The computer was a painfully bright rectangle of glass framed by a rectangle of black with grey smudges, and right now Nick Wilde wanted to put his fist right through it.

His bark-brown paw click-click-clicked at the dirty plastic keys of Honey's computer with the growing irritation of a bee that hadn't pollinated in weeks. Its twin dragged the mouse to all four corners of the alien-themed pad, the sensation almost as irritating as the image that suddenly popped up on the screen.

"Honey!"

It was the third time in the last hour that Nick had been stonewalled by Honey's treacherous computer, and he was reaching the end of his rope. Three weeks had passed since their escape from the Arctic House. Twenty-one days since he'd last seen Officer Carrots. Five hundred and four hours, give or take, he'd spent pacing, sitting, and lying surrounded by drab grey slabs that called themselves walls. He'd spent a fair amount of free time crunching the rest of the numbers. Three thousand, two hundred and forty minutes. One million, eight hundred and fourteen, four hundred seconds. He'd tried calculating nanoseconds before realizing that with time being as ever-flowing as a river there was no point, getting bored and going to the computer, leading to his present vexation.

The honey badger in camo-clothes returned from making coffee just in time to answer his shout. "What?"

"Since when did you put a fucking parental lock on this thing?!" Nick demanded.

"Since Sherry went on and found AssAnimerica." With her paws full with mugs, Honey used her elbow to point at the cheetah cub snoozing on one of the beanbags in the corner. Beside her was Finnick, staring up at the ceiling as he lay sprawled out on another beanbag like Da Vinci's Virtruvian Mammal. For the last week or so, the light of the fox's collar had been permanently yellow. "And keep your voice down." Honey set one of the mugs down before the fox, and the scent made him feel better.

"Thanks." Nick grumbled, turned back to the Internet and hoped that hadn't been blocked too.

Honey didn't leave his side. "Are you feeling alright?"

Nick resisted the desire to plant his forehead on the table. "I'm sorry, Hon. I think being stuck six feet under for weeks on end is starting to get to me."

Honey tilted her head. "You didn't sleep last night, did you?"

"Nope. Couldn't stop thinking about how the city looks at night. Like Vegas without chips."

Honey retrieved the cup of coffee. "How about I take this back and get you decaf?"

"Sure, pal. No bother." Nick said with a shrug while typing in the search bar. "Come on, Zoogle, gimme some crack… No block! Yes!"

Finnick suddenly shot up from the beanbag, startling Sherry from her nap, and made a beeline for the cupboard holding Honey's junk food. He flung the cupboard open, the door hiding him from sight. Nick, Sherry and Honey watched wordlessly as one by one, the badger's pop tarts came flying out and skidding across the floor.

"Cookies and Crème…" Finnick grumbled each time preceding a flying pop tart. "Vanilla Latte… Chocolate Chip… Cinnamon Roll… Strawberry Milkshake…" Finnick's head popped out next, large eyes blazing. "Would it kill you to have the real fricking things in this cesspit?!"

Honey pointed to the cupboard above him. "There's cereal bars in that one."

Finnick looked up at the cupboard two foot above his reach. "Fuck off."

"Language!" Honey snarled.

Finnick waved away her sharp response. "Oh, shove it! There's no way the kid's never heard the F word before!"

"He's right, Miss Honey!" Sherry said.

"Go back to sleep." Honey told her and turned back to Finnick. "Look, Gabe's gonna be back soon with the baby, so you'd better chill the hell out before he gets here."

Finnick scoffed. "What hell is he doing taking a baby to get a health check anyway? He's on the run just like the rest of us!"

"I told you, Mr. Big's letting him see their own doctor. Besides, we need to make sure Lance is okay. There's no telling what Slothfeld might have done to the poor thing before Radames saved him."

"Speaking of which, how do we know she'd actually on our side?" Finnick slashed at the air between them. Sherry walked through the gap and picked up the Chocolate Chip pop tart.

As the bickering gradually turned back to the issue with the pop tarts, Nick took note of the time on the corner of the computer screen; it was eight-twenty-two. The latest news should be out by now. Nick typed some words and started scrolling through the headlines one by one.

For the first time since her ex-boyfriend Carlton Woolton was brutally murdered, Bellwether's article didn't involve vilifying City Hall in some way. Whether she was slowly starting to get past Woolton's death or she'd finally noticed how agitated the public was getting it wasn't clear, but today's headline was all about tonight's debate between her and Mayor Swinton. There was also a tidbit about the sheep's intentions to curb the accidents caused by those shock collars and the fact that twenty-three days had passed since a predator had turned savage.

A headline from ZNN elaborated on that last part, stating that there hadn't been a single savage attack since the last predator confirmed to have attended Wild Times went crazy and was apprehended. In their eyes that was undeniable proof that Nick's regular removal of the TAME Collars had been the cause of that mess. The article also spoke of Precinct One's relentless but admirable pursuit of the fox and his accomplices, especially by the ZPD's first rabbit officer, and contemplated the whereabouts of his supposedly innocent friend, Benjamin Clawhauser. The article ended with the promise that with ever other state in the country now on the lookout for the fox, his capture was only a matter of time.

Which means that we're probably never gonna get out of this fucking bunker! The mouse creaked beneath Nick's clenched paw as he kept scrolling. There was a small article about a persistent reporter getting arrested for harassing Dr. Kathryn Bogo for information on the attack on her brother. Confirmation that Captain Bogo would make a full recovery. Various theories on the whereabouts of the key witness to Assistant Mayor Woolton's murder…

"What're you reading?"

Nick nearly jumped out his seat. He'd never heard Sherry walk up to him.

"Just reading the news, kid!" He said a little too harshly. "Honey told you to go to sleep!"

"At lunchtime?" Sherry asked quizzically.

"It's lunchtime?" Nick looked at the computer's clock again. It was eight-thirty one. "It's not lunchtime yet!"

"Yes, it is!" Sherry held out her arm so Nick could see the watch. Twelve-thirty one?! Nick checked his own watch, which said the exact same thing. "Honey!"

Honey turned away from a fuming Finnick. "Well, what's the matter now?"

"Your computer is crap, Honey!" Nick raged at her. "It's bad enough that you can't play games on this thing, but you can't tell the fricking time, either!"

"What're you talking about?" Honey walked over and peered at the screen. "Oh. Oopsie."

"Whaddaya mean 'oopsie?'" Nick growled.

"That's the time zone for Ramchorage, Alaskaribou." The badger said, sounding abashed as she grabbed the mouse and quickly rectified the clock. "A few weeks ago I was waiting for a call from a fellow sister living in the area. I must've forgot to change it back."

"You don't have a sister." Finnick said. "Wait, you're not talking about a Liberum sister, are ya? I thought they were wiped out."

"No, not from Liberum. The Sheep-Resistance." Honey said, with that gleam in her eyes that she always got whenever she broached the subject. "She's been conducting surveillance on this sheep-dominated campsite out in the woods and she might really be onto something this ti-"

"Are you freaking kidding me?" Nick asked slowly. His collar beeped in warning. "You mean all this time I've been checking the wrong time?"

Honey frowned. "Uh, yeah? But what's the big deal? It's not like you had any places to be."

"Oh my God!" Finnick dropped down on the floor with a moan and a zap from his collar. "I missed breakfast. I've been missing my fucking breakfasts for weeks!"

Honey put her paws over Sherry's ears. "Finnick, for God's sake!"

Finnick threw his little arms up. "That's it! That's it, I'm leaving!"

"Whoa, wait!" Honey rushed over to stop the fennec as he stood up and stormed over to the ladder. "You can't go out there, the whole city is looking for you!"

Finnick turned on her with a snarl. "I can't do this anymore! I've had nothing but pop tarts and military rations for days! I haven't won a single board game! I don't even remember what beer tastes like anymore! All tart and no beer makes Fin a mad boy, Honey! All tart and no beer makes Fin a maaaad boy!"

Everyone jumped when Gabriel Mossberg suddenly dropped down with a bundle in his arms. Finnick's tirade had drowned out the sound of the hatch above opening and closing. The feline/fox hybrid looked around at the agitated mammals surrounding him. Nick tensed at the sight of him, having seen first hand how adept the mammal was at killing. "What the hell is going on down here?"

Finnick spun to Gabe. "Buddy, you get right back up there and open that hatch again! I'm outta here!"

Gabe stared down at the livid little fox while he returned the hug a happy Sherry game him. "I'll ask again. What the hell is going on down here?"

"Finnick's losing it! That's what's going on!" Nick snapped, his heart pounding to the point that it sent a painful zap to his neck. He flinched, and then took some deep breaths to calm himself. "Look, I know that we need to lie low until you find Slothfeld's disk and prove I'm innocent, but we've been in this world war tomb for three weeks. We have got to get out!"

"I know what this is." Sherry said. "They're getting Cabin Fever!"

"Thank you, Dr. Phil!" Finnick said snidely. "It's okay for you, 'cause Honey takes you with her every times she goes out for supplies! As for Honey, she went crazy long before she started living in a bunker!"

"Hey!" Honey scolded.

"That's because neither of them have the police, the mob and an evil conspiracy after them." Gabe said before turning to Honey. "But they have a point. I've seen what Cabin Fever does to people, Honey. We should get them some fresh air before they do something stupid."

Stupid? Nick barely managed to hold his tongue.

"We can't just let them wander the streets, they'll be spotted! Unless you've got a better idea."

"So long as they stay off street level and stick with me, they'll be fine." Gabe said. "They can help me conduct surveillance for Mr. Big. They did a good enough job avoiding my detection when they spied on me at the Paradise Poolhouse."

"Yeah." Nick paused, swallowing as he remembered the night he'd almost got his throat torn out by a savage wolf. Gabe had saved him. He could trust Gabe. Couldn't he?

Honey sighed. "You're right. There's a cheap clothes store not far from here. I might be able to scrounge up a few things to help them blend in."

"Woah, woah, woah!" Finnick stepped between them. "Big and Koslov are at fucking war right now! There is no way I am getting in the middle of all that shit!"

"You won't be." Gabe walked over to the table and set baby Lance down into the metal box they'd converted into a temporary crib. "You'll be staking out certain locations with me, that's it. Big won't even know you're involved. It's either that or you continue to stay down here twenty-four-seven."

"Ffffffffine." Finnick growled. Nick simply nodded, glad to at least have something to look forward to. It also made sense that they would be doing something to earn their freedom. "If we're gonna be let out, d'ya think we could check on my van?"
"Sure." Gabe said.

"I already know your sizes, so I should be forty minutes tops." Honey said, having just opened the safe to retrieve her wallet. In fact, several incidents of Sherry finding and playing with Honey's gadgets had prompted the badger to stuff them all in the safe along with a few firearms. "Gabe, do you think you could stay here and watch the foxes while I'm gone?"
"Can't. Mr. Big wants to see me back before two. If you're going, I'll have to take Lance with me."

So he's not in the line of fire when Big's boys show up guns blazing, not doubt. Nick shut down that thought. If Gabe was going to sell them out he would have done so weeks ago.

"Is Elba still offering to look after him?"

"Yeah, but he's got enough on his plate with Swinton's people breathing down his neck. She's already ticked off with him for hiding-" Gabe stopped when Honey glared at him. They glanced at the two foxes. Nick didn't like the implications behind that. Once Gabe had picked up Lance and left, she reached for the ladder herself. "I'll be back soon with some clothes. Try to keep it together until then, okay?"

Nick and Finnick nodded. Honey climbed out soon after, and then they were alone.

Ten seconds passed. Then Nick asked, "Do you get the feeling there's something they're not telling us?"

"Totally." Finnick said. Then he said "Screw it." and made for the computer.
"What're you doing?" Sherry asked.

"Finding out what's taking Jack and Jill so long!" Finnick retorted. He leapt onto the computer chair, then cursed loudly as Nick promptly plucked him off again.

"No offense, but you take to computers like a duck takes to lava. Let me look." Nick sat down and started searching Honey's documents. Almost everything was password protected, but Nick knew everyone, and he knew Honey well enough to know what she had put for a password. 789. Just like that, they were in.

"I don't think you should be doing that." Sherry said.

"Go back to your nap." Nick said.

Nick tried to tell himself that Honey wasn't wrong to hide it, that this information was too dangerous to reveal to civilians, but even so the files he opened one by one had him simmering close to boiling point. The first file he opened was a list of mammals who had entered the area of the Artic House in the weeks since the shootout, most of which had been crossed out; Mansa Bogo was among the few names still uncrossed. Nick knew right away that this was a list of mammals that may have potentially found the Data Disk after it fell from their getaway cruiser. However, he didn't know why Honey had kept this from him and Finnick. All this time he'd thought that Jack and Alyssa were chasing their own tails, but in fact they were followed a series of leads numbering in the dozens. Another file consisted of reports from an undercover ZBI agent under Swinton's employ, most of the recent ones stating Swinton's people were still searching for the disk themselves. The fifteenth file was a medical file on Boris Antlerson, the first conspirator that was attacked. Nick and Finnick cringed at the photographs taken of the caribou's injuries, and the bigger fox quickly scrolled down past them…

Nick felt a chill at he stared at the top of the last page, a series of short paragraphs with dates, Honey's addition to her copy of the file.

Mossberg Log – May 07, 2015

It has been four days since Gabriel Mossberg asked me to monitor his mental state. Other than the occasional flash of anxiety induced anger concerning the unknown fate of his wife, Starlight, he has shown no sign of reverting back to his psychotic state. After what he did to Antlerson, however, I feel I must remain vigilant.

"Holy shit." Nick whispered as he read the rest of the paragraphs, all of which stated the same thing; Gabe hadn't had another episode since he'd attacked Antlerson. That did nothing to ease Nick's shocked anger, especially after he read the final paragraph.

Mossberg Log- July 29, 2015

When Alyssa and Gabe went to the saw mill on Founder's Mountain in the hopes of finding Slothfeld's hideout, they were attacked by a squad of razorbacks sent either by Swinton or the Great Sheep Conspiracy. Then those razorbacks were suddenly slaughtered by wolves displaying behavior very similar to Gabe's psychotic behavior when he'd attacked Antlerson, and Sedor Valentino's brutal murder of Carlton Woolton. This indicates that Gabriel, Sedor and the wolves were all treated with the same serum. It remains to be seen if the serum's effects are temporary in all subjects, or if Gabe was injected with a weaker variant.

"You gotta be kidding me." Finnick said as he and Finnick stared in horror at the screen. "Gabe's a nutjob, just like the others."

"We don't know that." Nick said. "It says he hasn't gone crazy since he attacked that buck."

"Did you see what he did to that fucker?" Finnick gestured wildly to the screen. "That bitch! She knew this all along! Why didn't she tell us?!"

"I don't know!" Nick shouted. "Maybe he got cured, like I did!"

"If he had, it would be written right here!"

"Come on, maybe there's more on that serum in here somewhere!"

Nick closed the files he'd already opened and started opening more. At some point Sherry's curiosity got the better of her and she joined them at the desk. After some searching Nick found a list of the thirteen mammals the ZBI agent had typed in one report, in the order they disappeared.

1. Cheryl Radames – Tiger - ZI6 Agent. First predator. Nicknamed 'Red Queen' on account of being the best.

2. Sedor Valentino – Grizzly Bear - Tundratown Crime Boss. Partners with Koslov Polarnova.

3. Ryan Roarson – Lion – Drug Dealer for Crimson Mane Gang. Went missing after being busted for tampering with TAME Collars on the side.

4. Maria Manchas – Jaguar/Panther – Sister to Renato Manchas, chauffer to Tundratown Mafia Boss Mr. Big. Good with Knives.

5. Raksha Bhediya– Wolf – Enforcer for Koslov's gang. Likes to tinker.

6. Rama Bhediya – Wolf – Enforcer for Koslov's gang. Likes to tinker.

7. Akela Bhediya – Wolf – Enforcer for Koslov's gang. Expert Torturer.

8. Emmitt Otterton – Otter – Florist. Suspected former member of Liberum.

9. Reginald Rhodes – Rat – Member of Little Rodentia crew of Mr. Big's Mafia. Back Alley Doctor. Reportedly good at what he does.

10. Archie Little – Mouse - Member of Little Rodentia crew of Mr. Big's Mafia. Chemist.

11. Susan Wade – Lemming - Member of Little Rodentia crew of Mr. Big's Mafia. Chemist.

12. Stuart Levvar – Bat - Member of Nocturnal District crew of Mr. Big's Mafia. Informant.

13. Martin Lidel – Shrew - Member of Little Rodentia crew of Mr. Big's Mafia. Engineer.

20-30 suspected missing homeless. Linked to Cunninghorn?

There were also files on known and obscure terrorist cells Honey had been collecting data on. Information on military bases scattered throughout the country. Contacts within ZI6, Skyefall's name included. Nick gaped at that file. Honey had never told them she worked as an informant for a foreign country. It was small comfort that she wasn't working for North Klawrea or some other fascist shithole.

The fox felt hollow as he opened the next file. It was an interactive map of all of Honey's secret safe houses within Zootopia. Nick breathed out, as did Finnick. He already knew this bunker was one of several hideouts. He noted the box of names floating beside the marker for the Rainforest District hideout. Nicholas Wilde, Finnick Courroux, Sherry Furman and Lance Mossberg. Beside the Savanna Central safe house marker were two names, Gabriel Mossberg and Starlight Foxtrot/Mossberg. Nick wondered why those names would be there if Starlight was missing, then realized this must have been where the spy couple were residing before they were abducted.

"Starlight. Sounds like her parents were sci-fi hippies." Finnick grumbled. Nick ignored him and looked for the other markers, seeing if Honey was harboring any more secret agents. All this time he'd thought Honey's greatest concern was the Great Sheep Conspiracy.

So much for knowing everybody, Nick, the fox thought as he continued to check out the remaining markers. The boxes beside Tundratown, Sahara Square and the Canyonlands were blank. Beside Nocturnal District, on the other hand, was one name.