Zootopia was a big city. Linda and Alex had both realized that on their very first day.
The city was big and it was more diverse than any other city that they had even been into before.
It had districts that represented the different biomes where mammals could live. There was a district of an entire rainforest, with the houses being mount on top of the big trees, and even inside of the trees themselves. As if that was not enough, the city also had a literal desert and tundra areas, both of them made possible by the 'climate wall', which was basically like a giant air conditioner that blew freezing air to one part of the city and heat into the other. This along with having some inner mechanisms that made possible the occurrence of snow and of sandstorms on these areas.
All of that made Zootopia the more interesting place where the former humans had one day been on their lives. So much that they really doubted such a place would have been possible on the human world.
However, despite all of the many strange/unusual areas that there were in that city, there were also many areas that were to be expected in big cities.
This included the commercial areas, which included a place called "Paw Street" (the former humans had gotten use to the puns by now), and it went all the way to the suburbs, including in some places that actually looked a bit like ghettos (among them, a certain abandoned area that was known as "Happytown"). Of course, it also had a place in it that was clearly reserved to the richer ones, as this place had manors and gated communities.
That one was the Vole Gardens, the place to which Alex and Linda had to go to deliver the peacock.
It was quite a distance from their work place. Luckily, both of them were in great shape, and they had no problem walking in direction to the place. Well, except when they had to stop to ask for directions, once they still didn't fully knew the city, even though they had been in there for a few weeks by now.
As they walked, the style of the buildings soon was changing, as it became clear that they were walking into a place reserved for mammals with a big bank account. Or at least with some sizable paychecks.
"Seriously, we would have to save forever to buy the smallest of these houses." Alex said as he and Linda walked across the street. The gazelle said nothing in return, as she seemed to be busy keeping an eye on the streets, to be sure that they would be able to find the right address.
They still passed by many houses, and they kept getting bigger and fancier the deeper into the place they went. It was almost as if they entered in a city of its own, made for the super wealthy and, more certainly, for the ones who held power.
As they walked, they were mostly in silence.
It was the kind of uncomfortable silence, as they were behaving as if the other could explode or something. The interactions were brief and polite, but the tension between them could be feel, as each one of them seemed to be getting ready to say something, but hesitating just on the right moment to say it.
"Alex..." Linda said, finally getting enough courage to break the silence. "If doing that in our apartment worries you because the neighbors could hear, then maybe we can go into another place."
Alex blinked, and he looked at her.
"What? You mean... like one of these places with hearts decorating the walls?" The puma said to her. "With round beds and mirrors on the ceiling?"
"Why not?" She asked, looking at him, ignoring the peacock that she now held by the leash, which looked like a prince strolling around his kingdom.
"I mean, we are both adults, and it wouldn't be the first time where we go to a place like that. We would get all the privacy we could ask for in a room like that."
Her argument was reasonable. That was the worst part for Alex, as he saw himself looking for an excuse.
"B-but... huh... T-they would demand for our identities." Alex said, hoping that this argument would be enough. "We don't really have identities yet, and Jeff said that he would be looking into it.
Linda looked at him as he said that, and she saw that he was avoiding looking at her.
"Besides, these kinds of places cost money, and you gotta admit that doing that in a place like that is not really romantic, right?"
She looked at him, and Alex still looked away. The puma was about to change the subject, when suddenly he was forced to stop by Linda, who grabbed his shoulder and forced him to look at her.
"Alex. What is going on?" She asked, direct and blunt, so much that the puma was left confused.
"W-what?"
"You are making up excuses not to go to bed with me!" She said, rather loudly. Alex blushed at her bluntness, even though it was true, and he looked around.
"L-Linda. We should not discuss it here." He said, wanting to avoid this conversation more than anything, "We are in the middle of the street, someone could hear us."
"I don't care!" She said, looking at him in the eyes. "I want you to tell me why you don't want to make love with me anymore!"
"I want!" Alex said, and Linda looked back at him.
"Really, because it doesn't seem like it." The gazelle said, "Ever since that night when we almost made love at the hospital weeks ago you have been acting like that! Every time I said that I'd like to try again you start making some kind of excuse! Like you are doing right now!"
"I'm not making excuses!" Alex said, "I just... I just think that one of these places is not really good for it."
"Well, you never had any complaint when we went in there when we were still human." Linda shot back.
"Y-yeah, but... I just... I-I mean..." Alex said, looking for any argument that could help him out of this. Meanwhile, Linda continued to look at him, and after a few moments of Alex trying to come up with something, she asked:
"Are you disgusted?"
Alex blinked, looking at her in surprise.
"What?"
"Are you disgusted with me?" She asked him, being direct and blunt, "That is the problem? Does the fact that now I am a gazelle makes you disgusted?"
"No!" Alex said immediately, "Linda, I'm not disgusted of you! How can you say that?"
"Well, it is what it seems right now!" She said back at him. Aki had also stopped and was now looking at them with a tilted head, as if he was trying to understand what the two mammals were talking about.
"Every time that I suggest for us to have sex you make a face and start to act weird!" Linda said, looking at Alex, "You keep making excuses and diverging the subject! You shy away when I try to touch you in some intimate way! Lately you have not even wanted to kiss me!"
Alex looked at her. She could not see it, but Alex was once more passing his tongue over his sharp teeth inside his own maw. Teeth that were sharp enough to cut Linda's tongue in some sudden movement while they were making out.
"In the last days, I even have the impression that you don't want to touch me!" She said at him, her voice still getting louder, and Alex could only look back at her. "You can't really blame me for thinking that you actually don't like my new appearance!"
"I do!" Alex said, looking at her, "Linda, you are beautiful! You have always been beautiful and you always will!"
"Then why do you act like you are afraid of touching me!?" She demanded, looking at him.
"Why do you shy away when I try to touch you? Why do you act as if the idea of making sex to me makes you feel squeamish?"
She looked at him dead in the eye.
"Why do you act as if the fact that I'm not human anymore disgusts you?"
"It doesn't..." Alex said, and that much was the truth. He didn't felt disgusted by Linda in the slightest. If anything, he thought that it somehow made her even more beautiful. He still desired her, as much as he always did. That was what made him being away from her be even more painful to him.
"It is not any of that." Alex said, looking back at her.
"Then what is it?" Linda asked, and Alex looked back at her.
How to say to her of his new worries?
Would she understand?
Would she think of such worries as well funded?
Would she share of these worries from now on?
Would she be afraid of being near him?
Would she leave him?
"Alex, tell me what is wrong." She said, and Alex looked back at her, his mind playing all of the things that could happen if he explained to her all of his worries. All of them made his heart clench.
"I..." He said, looking at her in the eyes, "I can't..."
Linda looked at him with a hard glare.
"Then talk to me again when you can." She said, and turned back to the peacock. "Let's go, Aki."
Soon, the gazelle was walking forward, guiding the peacock, while Alex remained behind, looking at her as she was departing, his heart felt like it was tearing, his ears pressed flat against his head.
Soon, Alex was walking after her, but this time he was keeping a certain distance.
Meanwhile, the car that had been tailing them stopped a little behind, as the tigress who was on the steering wheel took notice that they had stopped.
Fangmeyer and Wolfard both looked as the two mammals as they seemed to be having a discussion right there, in the middle of the street. Right before the gazelle walked away in front, with the puma following right after.
"What just happened?" Wolfard asked, and Fangmeyer continued to look, before saying:
"I guess they just had a fight."
They continued to look, and soon, they were following the two mammals once more.
The two mammals, unaware that they were being tailed, soon were arriving in the precise place where the house was. It was quite hard to miss.
It was easily one of the biggest houses of the block, and it had a huge inside area, complete with a wall that surrounded the place from all sides, certainly to keep criminals out. It was quite a big place, and the two mammals couldn't help but feel somewhat amazed by the sheer size of it.
In fact, it was so big that it took them a while to realize it was the house, as it took a certain portion of the block.
This Kuma guy must be really rich. Alex thought, as he realized just how big his property was. Linda was walking a few feet ahead, guiding Aki by the leash, as she turned a corner. When Alex turned the same corner, he nearly bumped into Linda.
He looked at her for a while, before she made a gesture for him to be silent, and gestured forward. That was when Alex realized the same thing that she did as soon as she had turn that corner:
There was a mammal in there.
This mammal was hiding behind a set of bushes, and he looked like he was looking at the house from a hiding position.
Only his horns were visible, and they were decorate with fake leaves on them, probably to make them look more like branches. The ibex was crouching behind the bush, with a camera pointed at the place. He was so focused that he didn't noticed that someone was approaching him. At least not until something entered the way of his lens, and now he was looking at a single big red eye.
The ibex cried out in surprise as he stumbled back, landing flat on his tail, as he looked at what he had just seen. It was Aki, who had entered in the way of his camera, giving the horned mammal a quite unsettling close-up from the bird's eye.
"What the..." The ibex said, when he realized that the bird was not the only creature that was looking at him, as a gazelle and a puma both were looking at the ibex, who stared back at them.
"What are you doing?" Linda asked, and the ibex looked at them, as if petrified.
"I-I... I just... I-I was..." He said, stammering like crazy, as he looked at the two with an expression of fear.
"D-d-do you w-work for K-K-Kuma?" He asked, and the two shared a look.
"No..." Alex said, looking at him, "We work for Groomed Feathers and Polished Scales Petshop. The Kuma family left their peacock with us and we were just on the way to return him." Alex said, gesturing to the peacock. "That's when we saw you hiding behind the bush."
The ibex looked at them, all of sudden looking less afraid, as if he was relieve by their answer; however, he still looked like he had been catch.
"Oh! I was just... hmmm... birdwatching!" He said, after giving a quick glance at the peacock. "Yes! That's right! I was birdwatching!"
"With leaves on your horns?" Linda asked, and the ibex looked at his own horns (or tried), before he said:
"Oh, that's a disguise for the birds!" He said rather quickly, "You know, to keep them from getting scared by me."
The two shared a look, before Alex spoke:
"It seemed that you were looking at the house."
"Because I thought I saw a bird in there." He said, getting up, and he was looking at the front of the house, as if he was afraid of something. "I wasn't spying on the house!"
The two looked at the ibex. "No one said that you were." Linda said, and the ibex said back:
"Good, because I wasn't! I would never dream of spying on the house of such a distinctive mammal like Kuma Akira!" He said, and looked at them. "But... on another matter, since you two are going to the house, any chance that you could give this to them?"
He said as he pulled out something that looked like a small metallic device with a discrete (but noticeable) red light blinking in it.
The two looked at the small thing.
"What is that?" Linda asked.
"Oh, just a small gift for the family." He said with a smile, "You see, they did something for me a while ago, and I want to give this to them as a gift."
"Then why don't you just go and give it to them?" Linda asked, and the ibex looked lost for a moment, before he continued:
"Because... I am really shy. I don't want to go in there and give them myself, I would be a mess." He said, with a smile, "So, maybe you two could give it to them for me? Maybe you could even put on the peacock's collar and just deliver him."
"Why is it blinking?" Alex asked; looking at the red blinking that was going on in the small metallic object.
"Look, you just need to get this inside the house, okay?" The ibex said looking at the two. "Could you do that? Please? I'll pay you."
The two shared a look, before looking back at the pleading ibex, who looked back at them.
"We'll be going now." Alex said, as they both were moving away from the ibex.
"Let's go, Aki. Your family is waiting." Linda said, urging the bird to follow as they left the ibex behind.
"Wait. Wait!" The ibex said, half-calling, half-whispering to them. "Please, I need your help! Please! ... Don't tell them I'm here!"
As the two walked along the wall, they soon were arriving in the front gate, which was being guard by two bears in suits.
"Hello." Linda said, looking at the two individuals who stood in there, both of them were bigger than herself and Alex, and they didn't looked friendly as they looked at the two. Actually, their gaze nearly seemed hostile, as they looked at the newcomers.
"Hmm... Is Mr. Kuma in?" Linda asked, and the bears continued to look at the two with hostility.
"What is it about?" One of them asked, with a heavy accent.
"We came to deliver Aki." Alex said, gesturing at the white bird, which stood as regal as ever. "We did everything of that list, including polishing his nails with the silver dust and them painting them with red polisher."
It still felt strange for Alex to say it, as he never imagined that one day he would be manicuring a peacock.
Of course, he also never imagined that he would wake up one day turned into an anthropomorphic puma...
The two looked at the bird, which seemed not to be acknowledging them, and then turned their gaze to the two.
"Arms on your side, please." One of them said, as he pulled out a metal detector.
The two shared a look, and they obeyed. First, the bear passed the detector by Linda's body, and he found nothing. Alex was next, and then the thing was blipping like crazy.
"What is this?" The bear asked, looking at Alex, and the puma felt like face palming himself.
He had forgotten that the natural electricity of his body sometimes set off anything that worked with magnetic fields. It was because of the natural strong electrical aura that he had that made these things go crazy.
"Oh, this..." Alex said, unsure on how he could explain it, or if he should explain it to them in any way. "This... is just something that happens sometimes."
The bears looked at him, one of them all of sudden seemed to be on guard.
"Do you have something of metal in there?" He asked.
"No, nothing." Alex said, but the other bear passed the detector through his chest once more, and the thing blipped like crazy. The two bears stared at him for a few moments.
"Keep our arms and legs spread, please." Said the other one and Alex obeyed, and soon the bear was touching him. The puma remained in place as he was search, as the bear passed his paws over his chest and over his sides, feeling his pockets for anything that the puma might have.
When he was done, Alex thought it was it, but the other one continued to pass the metal detector over his body, and it continued to react as if it was detecting some metal on the feline's body.
The bears shared another look, before they looked back at Alex.
Alex looked at them, quite unsure on how he would explain to them that it was blipping like that because Alex produced a great deal of electricity, and if either of them would actually believe him.
Either way, it seemed that the scene was developing.
"Take off your clothes, please." one of the bears suggested, and this caused Alex to stare back at the bears blankly. That was when Linda stepped in.
"Oh, please, you don't want him to get naked in the middle of the street, do you?" The gazelle asked, causing the two bears to look at her. The expressions on their faces seemed to indicate that they wanted.
"Come on, we are not even going to go inside." She said to them, "We just came here to deliver your peacock back. You can just radio inside and tell them that we left Aki in the entrance. We just want to deliver the peacock and go back to work. You are not going to make a problem about that, right?"
The bears looked at each other, and one of them seemed to be getting ready to speak, when their radios buzzed to life.
Someone on the radio was speaking frantically; and in a language that neither Alex nor Linda could understand.
The bear answered, speaking on the same language, and the conversation was developing in there as the gazelle and puma looked at the bears. They both could notice that, whatever was being spoke on the radio, was something truly serious. The way that the one in the radio was speaking and the expressions of the two bears said it all.
If they still had any doubts, they vanished when they saw the bears pulling guns from inside their clothes.
"Wow!" Alex said, "What'd going on?"
"You stay here." The bear said, as they both rushed inside, and left the two of them inside of the house, passing by the gates.
From there, the two mammals had a view of the inside of the house, seeing how their yard was big, and seeing the house itself at a certain distance. As they looked at it, both of them could easily come to the conclusion that something was happening on the house, by the way that the two bears had taken of inside with arms on their paws.
"Think everything is okay?" Linda asked to Alex, who looked back at her.
"If it was, they wouldn't have gone in there with guns ready." Alex said, and he looked back at the house. "Something is happening." He spoke, and they both looked inside. That was when the peacock started going crazy.
The bird was flapping its wings and cawing madly, and it almost looked like it was trying to escape of the leash and rush inside.
"Aki. Aki!" Linda said, as she looked at the bird, and so did Alex, that was, until Linda looked back at the house and let out a gasp.
"Alex! Smoke!" She said, pointing at the house, and Alex followed her hooved finger, and he could see it.
A column of smoke was raising from the house, black against the sky. It didn't took a genius to know that something was happening.
"Let's go there." Alex said, and he rushed inside before Linda could form an answer. The gazelle looked as Alex once more rushed right in direction to potential danger, as it was to be expect from him when these kinds of situations arose.
With her boyfriend rushing to the burning house, and the peacock that she was holding by the leash looking like it wanted to do the exact same thing, Linda saw herself with no option but go along, as she entered the house.
The ibex, who had been hiding until that point, had caught with the zoom on his camera how these two guards walked inside, and how the two mammals with the peacock went right after. He then turned his camera somewhere else, and he was able to see the column of smoke raising up to the sky.
Looking at it, and ibex reflected on what was going on, and on what he should do.
After a few moments, he decided:
"Oh well! A reporter gotta do what a reporter gotta do!" The ibex said, and he rushed forward, passing by the open gate and in direction to the inside.
From their cruiser, Wolfard and Fangmeyer both saw the ibex rushing through the gates. Just as they saw the altercation between the two and the guards, before the guards rushed inside and the two going right after. Only them they noticed the smoke coming from the inside of the property.
"Okay, that's it." Fangmeyer said, as she pulled her out dart gun and got ready. "Call Clawhauser and tell him to send reinforcements." She said to the wolf, "And to call the fire department."
Inside of the building, Kuma Akira was running, as two of his men were coming right behind. One was a bear, and he was holding to keep up with the panda as he held his arm, which sustained some serious burn. The other one was Cataro, the snow leopard, and he was panting heavily as he made a dash for it, and he kept looking over his shoulder, at the ones who were coming, as he spoke into the radio in Japanese.
"Send in everyone!" He said to the radio, nearly screaming in a high-pitched voice as he did so. "The ones from the east and west wings! And the sentinels too! Tell them to be ready and to shot on sight! They have permission to use the heavy artillery if necessary!"
As they ran, they passed by some other of the bodyguards, who were quickly directed to the place they were coming from, told to have their weapons ready and to fire as soon as they saw movement. Kuma continued to run, as he was going through the hallways in direction to some place. However, he was not going to the outside. No.
There was something he had to do before he could even consider leaving the building.
As he was about to turn on another corner of the hallways, someone else was coming from the other side, and they nearly bumped into each other, before stopping and looking at each other.
"Lien!" The panda said, grabbing the female by the arms, while the tigress looked back at him.
"Akira!" She said back, and spoke in Japanese, "I heard the alarms! What's going on?"
"Lien, why are you still here?" He asked, looking at him, "Where is Sasuke? Where is our son?"
"He is outside!" The tigress said back to him, "The maidens took him out as soon as the alarms were sounded."
"Why didn't you went with them?" The panda demanded, "It is not safe in here!"
"Kuma-sama!" Cataro said, causing the panda to look away from the tigress and look at him. "He is coming this way! They are trying to hold him back but he is still advancing!"
The panda looked at him, and turned back at the tigress. "We need to leave, now!" He said, and soon he was taking the tigress by the hand, pulling her along as they now rushed to the exit.
On another part of the house, the guards of Kuma Akira were forming a perimeter, and they were trying to hold their ground. However, it was proving to be a great challenge, once they had never faced a foe like that.
They were barking things at each other, and they were trying to keep their position as they opened fire against the enemy that continued to advance.
The bull named Stuart continued to advance, as if the guns meant absolutely nothing to him. He had the cheetah coming right behind him, who had a gun himself, and was able to fire at the other mammals, causing them to fall back and allow the bull to advance in their direction.
The mammals had to retreat as the bull came their way, something that they would normally not do with an unarmed mammal was coming their way.
Of course, more bulls were not completely envelop in flames.
Ever since that moment at the inside of the meeting room, the bull was involved in an aura of flames, which licked over his body and clothes without damaging them, but causing burns to everything that came in contact with the bovine.
At one point, some bears had gotten ready to fire at the bull, but the cheetah came out from behind him and fired at the bears, hitting two of them on the neck and on the shoulder, and causing the others to lose their focus. This was enough for Stuart to charge in their direction and to have physical contact with them.
He would punch a bear in the face, igniting his whole face upon contact, and he would then grab one by the neck starting a fire as he ignited the fur on his neck, and this fire quickly went up to the head. Next he would grab another bear by the chest before he had time to reload, and this would immediately ignite both his clothes and the fur beneath them. Finally, he would turn his gaze to the last bear, who had a bullet on the neck.
"Where is the panda?" He demanded, his voice still being understandable above the roar of the flames. The bear looked at him as he held his bleeding neck. "Where did he go?"
The bear looked at him in fear, before raising a trembling paw and pointing at the certain direction.
The bull would simply look at where he pointed and would walk in that direction, not giving any further attention to the bear. Not even to the gunshot that resounded behind him as the cheetah finished the bear off.
As he walked, the fire on his body was spreading into the building as he walked by. Each step of his flaming hooved feet left flaming footprints into the ground. Also, as he walked, he had an outstretched arm to the wall, with a hooved hand touching the wall and producing flames that remained in the wall and spread, occasionally setting a chair, a curtain, or another thing on fire as he passed by it and placed his flaming hoof in it.
All the while, the armed cheetah was walking by his side, and he was already reloading his gun as he got ready to use it once more, as they both knew very well who was the one that they were looking for.
Kuma Akira was guiding Lien out of the place as they rushed in direction to the exit. All the while, the panda knew that these two were on their tails, as they heard through the radio that the guards were not able to stop them from advancing.
"We need to get out!" Kuma said, as she urged the tigress to keep running.
"Akira, what's going on?" The tigress asked the panda as they ran, "Who is attacking us? How many are they?"
"Only two!" The panda said, and that surprise the tigress.
"Two?"
"Yes, two!" The panda said, as they just turned a corner, "But one of them is one of those 'meta mammals'!"
"Is like he is a demon!" The black bear said, as he held his arm. "A demon that burns with the flames of Hell!"
"We cannot face something like that!" Akira said, "We need to leave this building and escape, now!"
As he said that, they turned on another corner, and started running once again. As they passed by another intersection.
"There you are!" Stuart said as he caught sight of Kuma and of his two henchmen, as well as a tigress that the panda was holding by the hand. They all stopped and looked at the flaming bull with wide eyes.
"You were leaving without saying goodbye!" The bovine said as he walked in their direction.
Immediately, Cataro and the black bear were pointing guns at him, as well as Akira, who had pulled the tigress behind himself and was now pointing a gun at the incoming bull.
However, as they were ready to fire, the cheetah suddenly came out from behind the bull and started to fire.
The first two shots hit the bear, who fell to the ground, while Cataro started shooting blindly and Akira pulled the tigress out of the way, shielding her with his own body. As this happened, the bull had the perfect change to charge at them, closing the distance while the cheetah ran by his side, still firing away.
The bull soon reached them, and he knocked Cataro down, placing both flaming hooves on his face. The feline screamed out in pain as his whole face went in flames, and his head a few seconds after. The bull continued to hold his head as he watched the cat's face burn. As he did, Kuma and the tigress were both running away, in direction to the short hallway that led to the front door.
The cheetah still fired at them, but he didn't landed any shot. The bull finally rose his head from the cat when he stopped moving, and looked at the two fleeing mammals.
The front doors burst open as Akira and the tigress both were running. They went down the stairs in the front of their home and were now running over the concrete pavement of their yard.
They were near the fountain in their stone garden when the tigress cried out as she miss-stepped and went to the ground.
"Lien!" Akira said, turning to her, and the tigress was whimpering.
"My ankle." She said, "I think I twisted it."
Akira was trying to help her up, when they both heard a *click*.
They looked up to see the cheetah pointing a gun at the both of them. Stuart was still on flames as he walked in direction to them, at a few feet away.
The panda and tigress both looked at the cheetah, who had a victorious, and rather sadistic, smile on his face as he looked at the panda.
"This could all have been avoided if you had accepted my kind offer." He said to the panda, who growled back at him, as he hugged the tigress closer to himself, and she looked at the cheetah in fear as she clung to the panda.
"So, this is all your own fault." He said, and got ready to pull the trigger. Akira pulled the tigress even closer to himself, as he closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.
The trigger was pulled, and the weapon fired.
However, the bullet did not hit either of them.
For in the moment when the cheetah was going to pull the trigger, something big and white jumped on him, cawing as it started to claw and to beak at the big feline.
The cheetah cried out as the attack of the white thing caused him to lose his aim and nearly his balance, as the bullet hit the ground, and the panda and tigress both opened their eyes, looking as a familiar white thing was attacking the cheetah.
"Aki-chan!?" The tigress said, looking as their white peacock beaked and clawed at the cheetah, who cried out for someone to "take this off me!" and he flailed, losing his gun at the process, as it landed on the ground and skidded away.
Stuart was looking at this with a raised eyebrow, as he kind of felt like laughing at it.
Eventually, the cheetah lost his balance and fell to the ground, panting and recovering, as he now had tears on his jacket and scratches on his arms and face, courtesy of the sharp and freshly manicured claws of the peacock.
Said peacock was now on the ground as the cheetah fell prone, its long tail fanned, wings open, head perked and standing on top of its legs. It cawed and inflated its chest as it looked down at the cheetah as if it was saying "try and you and I will have a fight!" to the prone feline.
The cheetah looked at the bird with a hint of fear, he was keeping a paw ahead of himself, as if to keep the bird away, and the bird continued to caw and trying to look bigger than him. Soon the cheetah was calling help.
"Stuart. Stuart!" The cheetah said; eyes glued at the peacock, as if it could charge at him in the second he looked away. "Horns! Help me!"
The bull could only look at him with a raised eyebrow, and the urge to laugh was starting to get bigger.
"Seriously?"
"Come help me!" the cheetah said out loud, "What do I pay you for?" He demanded, still looking at the peacock as if it could kill him.
"Is that serious?" The bull asked once more, looking at that comic scene before himself. "You can face a lot of bears and other big cats with guns, but you get beaten up by a peacock?"
He looked at the cheetah, and at the peacock that tried to intimidate him and seemed like it was succeeding.
"I mean, you have claws and fangs." Horns said, "Shouldn't this make this bird like, a snack to you?"
"Shut up and just help me!" He said, as the bird advanced a little in his direction, causing him to scramble back.
The bull sighed.
"A big predator scared of a bird." He said, walking to him, "Seriously, that would never happen in my world." He said, in a low voice, walking in direction to the cheetah, and that was when two other mammals arrived.
"What is going on!?" Alex said, looking at the scene before him. This caused everyone to stop and look at the direction of the newcomers.
"And, who are you?" The flaming bull asked, looking back at the two.
"Who are you?" Alex asked the bull, and the bovine just scoffed at him.
"I'm someone who is busy at the moment." He said, looking at the two. "This doesn't concern you, just go away." He said, turning his attention back at the situation at hand.
"Leave them alone!" Alex said, looking at the bull, who stopped for a moment to look at the cougar.
The feline didn't looked much of a threat. Of course, he had claws and fangs, like any predator, but he didn't looked like he was a danger to the bull. Especially considering the bull was currently involved in an aura of flames.
"Look, I don't have time for you now." The bull said, as if he was scolding a child. "But I might find some time to deal with you right now if you don't turn around and leave now."
With that said, he turned his head back to the scene in question, and right in time to see Kuma and the tigress getting up and attempting to flee.
"Hey!" He said, the fire around him getting stronger. "Where do you think you are going?" He demanded, walking in their direction.
However, he was unable to reach them, for immediately, he felt like something had grabbed his body.
The bull looked in surprise as he tried to understand this, as he saw nothing, but still felt lie something had grabbed him. His confusion only grew as he suddenly was hoist in the air, apparently by some invisible force.
"What the fuck!?" The bull cried out, as the cheetah, the panda and the tigress now looked in surprise at the flaming bull, which now was floating above the ground. Some even thought that he was doing that one his own, but as the bull struggled, it was becoming clear that he was not in there for his own will, as he was trying to release himself from the thing that seemed to have a grip on him.
Linda had her hoof outstretched as she held the bull in the air. The flames would make it impossible to attack him directly, as she could feel the heat even from that distance, but she didn't need touch to use her telekinesis.
"You two!" She said, talking to the panda and the tigress. They looked at her, surprised, "You need to run! Now!"
With this, the panda and the tigress were soon getting up. Well, the panda was getting up, as he holstered the tigress in his arms, as she would be unable to run with a twisted ankle.
"Aki-chan!" The tigress called out as the panda carried her away. "Aki-chan!"
The peacock turned its head to her, and soon, the bird was running after the panda, the cheetah now completely ignored.
"Put me down!" The bull demanded, "Put me down now!" He said as he squirmed.
"Only after you put that fire of yours out!" Linda said to him, "Literally and figuratively!"
The bull bellowed loudly as he continued to squirm, and Linda held him firmly.
Suddenly, a loud bang resounded.
The cheetah, now no longer being intimidate by the peacock, was able to scramble and look for his gun. Upon getting a hold of it, he started aiming at the two mammals, at the gazelle in particular.
The first bullet missed, but it was all that it took for the two to realize that the cheetah was now aiming at them both.
"Linda!" Alex said, pushing Linda back and charging a lighting, firing it in direction to the cheetah. The feline's fur stood on end as the lightning passed right above his head, causing him to duck.
Meanwhile, the bull fell to the ground as Linda lost her grip on him, and he landed flat on his butt. He grunted as he bot up, rubbing his behind as he got up, looking at the two.
"I'll take care of them!" He said to her. "You go."
"No way!" She said to him, "I am not leaving you alone!"
However, more shots resounded, as the cheetah started firing again, and this time the bull was going at their direction.
Alex was quick to answer, as he liberated a myriad of electrical arcs in their direction, and this caused both of them to stop, as they would be shocked if they gave another step.
"You go with these two!" Alex said to her, "Make sure that they are okay! I'll take care of everything!" He said to her, and she hesitated.
"Now!" He said to her, and she hesitated just for one more second, before she did as he had told her.
As Linda ran right after these two, Alex turned his attention back to the two other mammals, who were recovering and looking at him.
"Electrical powers and likes to play hero..." The bull said to himself, before looking at Alex.
"Hey, you are Hunter! That guy that Stoats spoke about!"
Alex lips curled into a snarl. Of course he would be one of the guys that was in there. That much was obvious. He certainly was one of the guys that Stoats hired for his own protection.
Baring his fangs, Alex charged up electricity in his paws, creating balls of lightning in them. The bull, still enveloped in flames, looked at him in the eyes as he snorted at the cougar, flames coming out of his nostrils.
"You darn meddler!" The cheetah said, pointing his gun at Alex.
The puma was ready for both of them.
Meanwhile, from a spot among the bushes, an ibex was pointing a camera at them and taking pictures of the action...
Linda was doing what Alex had told her, as she was guiding these two animals to somewhere safe.
The gazelle was running along with them as the panda carried the tigress on his arms, and the peacock was hot on their hells.
Linda was not sure how far would be safe, but she knew that she needed to stay by their side until it was safe for both of them.
However, she did not expected to run into someone.
At first she was surprised, and got on defensive when she saw that they had weapons. Even when she saw that they had only dart guns, she was still on edge, and so were the other two mammals.
"Who are you?" Kuma demanded, as he looked at the newcomers.
"Officers Fangmeyer and Wolfard!" The tigress said, pulling a badge and showing it to them, and so did the wolf. "We were outside when we noticed a commotion on the entrance and smoke coming from the inside!"
"We already requested for backup!" The wolf said, "What is going on in here?"
"Alex is there with them!" Linda said to both, being able to relax after seeing that they were cops. "With that cheetah and the bull! He is fighting them now!"
Soon after the gazelle said these words, the sounds of gunshots resonated through the air. Followed by the sound of a feral yell. The yell of a puma.
"Alex!" Linda said, and she immediately sprout into running on that direction, Wolfard and Fangmeyer looked at her as she departed.
"Hey! Wait!" Wolfard said, as he and Fangmeyer both were going after the gazelle, but only after the tigress told Kuma and the tigress on his arms to "get out and stay safe". They did exactly that, as the panda carried the tigress on his arms in direction to the gate, with their white peacock following obediently like a good pet.
Alex let out a yell of pain as a bullet scrapped his arm. The projectile had come dangerously close, but it only scratched at his skin as it had actually missed. He lost his focus and this caused his lightnings to miss the two.
The lighting he aimed at the bull hit him by passing above his head, while the one that he aimed at the cheetah hit the ground in front of his feet. This cased the feline to yelp as he jumped back, and this gave Alex the time that he needed to recover.
However, the cheetah continued to fire at him, and this prompted him to run and to get in the defensive.
Due to the constant firing, he was unable to aim properly, and this meant that he could not actually hit them with his lightnings; however, he was still able to put them on the defensive as well, ensuring that they would not come too close to himself.
Still, Alex wished that he could do something more than just trying to keep these two away, as he saw how fast the cheetah could reload his gun, showing that he clearly was no stranger to firing with a weapon. This made Alex worry about him juts as much as he worried about the bull.
How come I'm having problems with these two? Alex thought to himself. Just a few weeks ago I took out an entire team of armed wolves! I must be out of shape...
As Alex continued trying to keep them at a distance, the cheetah fired another bullet at him.
This one missed, like all the others, but it passed dangerously close to Alex's ear. So much that Alex could actually hear it zooming near him and even feel the wind of the bullet tickle the sensitive furs on his ear.
This startle the puma, as he took a paw to his ear and held it.
This was all that Stuart could want and hope.
Snorting as he grinned, the bull used this chance to charge at the puma. He found that charging and ramming at others was something that came much easier to him than during the time that he was a human, probably because of his transformation into a bull-thing like these of the kids' shows.
Alex didn't noticed that the bull was aiming for him, at least not until the bull was just a few feet away from him.
Alex didn't even had time to react as the bull lunged in his direction...
Only to stop on his tracks.
"What the!?" The bull said, as something held him, and he was once more hoist in the air by an invisible force. This caused everyone to look at it surprised.
Linda had a determined, and rather angry, expression on her face as she moved the bull with a mere gesture of her hoof. The flaming bovine let out a bellow as he struggled, as if this could make the invisible force holding him let go.
As an answer, Linda made another gesture and, just like that, the bull was fling into the air like a toy. Directly at the fountain.
The bull landed in it with a loud splash and a sizzling sound, as steam elevated from the waters of the fountain as they snuff his flames out.
The cheetah blinked as he looked at it, before he looked back at the gazelle.
Soon the face of the cheetah changed, as he raised his weapon, getting ready to fire at her.
"You horned slut." He said, aiming right at her and ready to fire. However, the next thing that sounded was not the sound of a gunshot, but the sound of the cheetah letting out a surprised yelp as an arc of lighting hit the weapon on his paw.
The weapon itself flew away from his grip and out of his reach, falling somewhere far away, while the cheetah recoiled his arm and held it against his body.
Alex was looking at him, an arm outstretched on the direction of the other feline, a ball of pure electricity still formed on his paw as he looked at the cheetah with absolute murder.
Everyone looked at it, and the two cops saw that Hunter had the cheetah completely under control. This left only...
The bull was grunting as he got up from the water of the fountain. Steam was rising from his body, but there were no flames. The bovine grunted in dismay as he tried to get out of the fountain, only for Linda to force him back inside with another gesture of her hoof.
The bull was force backwards, landing on his back into the water of the fountain, causing it to splash around and steam to rise from that spot, before the bull got up from there and snorted, more steam coming out of his nostrils.
"Hey, you!" Fangmeyer said, looking at the bull, as she and Wolfard were now pointing their guns at him.
"Freeze!" The wolf said, and the bull looked at them, before he looked at the gazelle.
"Why, you..." He said, trying to move in her direction, but Linda was faster. She made a single downwards gesture at the bull, causing an unseen force to make him to be send with his face on the water, causing it to splash and for more steam to raise from it.
The bull was soon after raising his head, coughing out water.
"Will you STOP doing that!?" The bull demanded, looking at the gazelle with hatred on his eyes. The gazelle looked back at him with a cold fierceness, and the two cops soon were onto him.
"Don't move." Wolfard said, as he and his tiger partner both pointed their dart guns at the bull. They were standing on the edge of the fountain, aiming right at the bull that was in it. Steam still rose from his body, but the flames from earlier were still not in sight, so the two felt actually quite confident on facing that bull.
"Now. Raise your hooves slowly and touch your horns." Fangmeyer said as she looked at him, and the bull looked at both of them, before he moved his hooves slowly, as if he was going to obey what the tigress was ordering.
Suddenly, he reached out for his pocket, and pulled out... a syringe?
"Hey! What is that?" The wolf asked, ready to fire, the bull smiled at him.
"You will see it now, Fido."
Then, the bull jammed the needle of the syringe into his own neck, not letting out a single sound as the sizeable needle pierced his skin and into his muscle, although there was pain in there.
Before anyone around, both the cops and the meta mammals, was able to react, the bull pressed the piston of the syringe, sending the liquid that was in there straight into his body.
Once that was done, the bull pulled the needle out and just tossed the syringe aside, and now he was in there, on his hooves and knees on the water that reached his chest, panting.
The ones around looked at the bull, as he continued to pant. Soon, the panting was growing more erratic, and the bull was starting to shake slightly.
"H-hey." Wolfard said, "Hey, you're alright, dude?"
"Horns?" The cheetah said, as he too had been seeing the scene develop.
The bull ignored both of them, as his body continued to shake, and his breathing became quicker and quicker. Meanwhile, more steam was coming out of him and of the water. Actually, the water around the bull was starting to bubble, like the water from a kettle on the oven.
"Hey!" Delgato sad, giving a step back, and so did her partner. They looked at the bull, as he continued to pant, steam coming out of his nostrils.
Suddenly, the bull snorted, puffs of flame coming out of his nose, and then, he looked up, his eyes glowed as if there was fire inside of them.
That was all the warning that they had before the bull bellowed, and his body immediately erupted in flames. All the water around him evaporated nearly instantly, as the flames grew much stronger than they were before he was toss into the fountain, as they were nearly projecting outwards, and were growing into a considerable height above the bull.
Wolfard let out a curse as both he and his partner stumbled back, both shielding their faces from the heat that was now emanating from the flaming bull. Alex and Linda too could feel the heat, and so could the cheetah.
They all now looked at the bull, as he panted, snorted, and walked out of the fountain.
"Stop!" Fangmeyer said, as she had recovered enough to aim her dart gun at the bull, and Wolfard was right by her side, also aiming at the bovine. "Stop or we'll fire!"
The bull snorted as he looked at both of them. It was as if the bull was at the center of a great bonfire. Flames covered the area on five feet around him, and they projected nearly ten feet above his horns. The heat was so intense that it made the mammals around seriously worried that this could be a very likely chance to cause a fire.
The bull snorted as he walked in their direction, and this immediately prompted the two cops to start firing darts at him.
The darts flew out of their guns straight to the bull. As they came closer, the feathers on their bases ignited as the liquid on them boiled, causing the barrel to explode and the needle and shaft both started to melt. As they entered into the flames, the darts were expose to a temperature so high that it caused them to melt heavily.
By the time they had reached the bull, the darts had been completely ruined by the flames, whatever was left of them was taken away by the updraft generated by the hot air of the flames around them.
The two cops blinked, as they saw that the darts they just fired had done absolutely nothing to the bull.
The bovine looked back at them, and he let out a smile as he snorted. Right before he bellowed loudly. A sound that was follow by the roar of the flames as they grew in intensity, producing a heat so great that all of the animals around gave a step back.
The cops were the closest ones, and they stumbled back, temporarily blinded by the brightness of the flames, as well as by the heat that was produce. Alex too was no better, as he was now using his paws to protect his face from the great heat, and this was all that the bull needed.
The bull turned in direction to the cougar. He knew that this cougar was probably the biggest threat, and so, he was going to take him out first. He dug into the ground with his feet, leaving charred marks in the already charred ground under his hooves, as he got ready to charge.
At the moment he tried to initiate his charge, however, he was once more raised from the ground and forced into the air by an invisible force.
He had forgotten about Linda, and the gazelle had not been as dazed by the flames of the bull as the others. She was able to notice the way that the bull looked at Alex, and she knew that he was charging for him. So, she immediately reacted by using her powers to hoister the bull into the air once more.
The bull bellowed loudly, as he struggled hard against the unseen force that was holding him, and the flames around his body continued to burn bright and hot. The yellow and orange coloration around him becoming more intense as the flames grew in force.
The mammals around were recovering, and they were seeing the flaming bull in the air and looking at Linda, as she had a hoof outstretched in direction to the bull, keeping him airborne with the power of her telekinesis.
The bull continued in the air, bellowing and shaking his limbs, as if he was trying to shake himself free from the invisible hand grasping him. Meanwhile the flames around him continued to burn around him, and now, it seemed that they were getting more intense. The heat of them was starting to get to a level that was getting everyone around seriously worried.
"By Fenrir! This is hot!" Wolfard said, as he and Fangmeyer both walked back, opening distance between themselves and the bull. As they did, Fangmeyer still fired more darts at the bull, but these darts were burn away into nothingness before they reached the bull, rendering them completely ineffective.
"The darts aren't working!" The tigress said, looking at the bull, and the bull bellowed even louder, as the flames around him grew stronger.
The shaking of the bull also became even more frantic, as he waved his limbs wildly, with his body almost looking as he was going into overdrive, while the flames around him grew even stronger, making him look like a literal flying ball of flames.
"He is going to explode!" Wolfard said, and the way that the bull was crying out, shaking and becoming hotter, it seemed that this was actually a very real possibility.
"Linda, toss him away!" Alex cried out, and Linda looked at him, before she looked back at the bull, a bit unsure if she should do it or not, or about where she could actually toss him.
"Linda!" Alex said, very urgently. "Toss. Him. Now!"
Linda looked at her boyfriend, and back at the bull, whom was now shaking so much that it looked like he really was ready to explode. Linda then made a sudden gesture with her hoof, in a tossing gesture. This caused the bull to fly in a certain direction, like a comet.
He flew right in direction to the house, going through the open door of the already flaming building.
A few seconds passed.
Then the mansion actually exploded.
Flames rose in a violent way from all of the windows near that door, and they actually seemed to break apart the entrance of the house and the ceiling that was above it. And the building had two stores!
The ones around had been caught off-guard by this, and they immediately fell back and moved away from the raging flames. The cheetah had used this chance to run away, escaping before anyone in there could actually remember him.
Meanwhile, the two cops and two meta mammals in there had time to recover, as they looked at the flaming place. Somehow, they were expecting the bull to emerge from the flames, looking furious at them. However, he didn't came.
No one came out of the fire.
They were breathing a bit fast at this, as they all were recovering their breath form the ordeal that they have just went through.
Alex was soon moving to Linda, to check on how she was, and if she was okay, and Wolfard was doing the same for his partner, checking on her. As the two males checked on their respective pairs, the ibex with leaves on his antlers looked at the situation, looking quite baffled, as he moved the camera up, zoomed into them, and took a picture.
That was when the sound of sirens could be hear at a distance, going in direction to the property from where the great column of smoke was rising.
Well, this chapter is done. Hope you have enjoyed.
Read and Review. Constructive criticizing welcome, but no flaming.
Also, this month is the fifth anniversary of Zootopia. And since everyone is doing it, I'm remind it as well as wishing this inspiring work of Disney a happy anniversary.