Alyssa received the call after leaving Jerry Jumbeaux's residence and crossing his name off the list. He didn't have the Data Disk either, and they were almost out of suspects. Worse, Jack's undercover ZBI contact had called him back to the Palm Hotel to discuss something urgent, leaving her to search the pachyderm-sized apartment alone in the evening Sahara Square heat. By the time she was done she was hot and miserable, but she took extra care to make sure she left nothing out of place. That little faux pas in Hopps's glorified hatbox would be the last time she looked like a novice in front of Jack. That, she promised.
"Gabriel? Gabriel, slow down, what… Benjamin's what?"
"What part of Benjamin has been taken by Cunninghorn do you not understand?" Gabe snarled through the headset. He was panting slightly, presumably from utilizing his parkour skills as he talked.
"How? Why?"
"He must have followed Commissioner Elba from the hospital, but that's not important. He's taking Benjamin to Slothfeld!"
"Slothfeld?"
"He must be trying to butter up Slothfeld so he'll convince Swinton to call off his termination. He tried to abduct me too when he saw me."
"He recognized you?"
"I recognized him. As soon as I saw his face. He's the one who captured me and Starlight. He must have abducted all the missing predators for Slothfeld's experiment. That bastard's probably up to his neck in this Twilight stuff."
As Alyssa listened, her heart sank lower and lower, even as the coldly pragmatic aspect of her realized the incredible opportunity in this. "Gabe, where are you right now? Is the Commissioner okay?"
"More or less. He's heading back to the Precinct to report what happened. I'm making my way out the Nocturnal District to try and pick up Cunninghorn's trail."
"Tell me Honey's tracking the bug in Ben's collar."
"She is."
"Good. Cunninghorn doesn't know it yet, but he's picked the wrong predator to kidnap. I'm going to find Agent Savage, and then we'll meet at Zootopia Overlook. We're going to follow the signal straight to Slothfeld."
Gabe took a few seconds to answer. "What about Wilde and Finnick?"
Alyssa pinched the bridge of her nose. This was one of the things she liked least about being a spy with a heart. Her choices were rarely easy. "I think you know, Gabe."
"… Honey won't be happy." Gabe said morosely. "But then again she won't be happy if the time we waste trying to find them costs Benjamin his life."
Alyssa put a paw against the cold brick wall. "We can't forget our mission, Gabriel. We didn't come here to babysit a pair of con artists. I hate to say this, but… Nick and Finnick are on their own."
Gabe sighed on the other end. "I promised Sherry I'd bring them back."
"Don't think about that now. With the bug in Benjamin's collar, we can finally learn where Slothfeld is hiding. We have to take this chance while we still have it. Meet us at Zootopia Overlook in two hours. Help us find Slothfeld, and we'll help you find Starlight."
Once she finished the call, Alyssa immediately contacted Jack. She went over Nick and Finnick's disappearance as quickly as possible, her aching heart refusing to let her linger on the subject. Thankfully Jack seemed to understand. "Don't worry, Alyssa. I've got a plan to track them down."
The vixen frowned. She pulled out a phone to cover up the headset as she entered a busy street. There still weren't as many mammals around as there usually were, for the Mayoral Debate between Swinton and Bellwether would begin. Alyssa checked the time on her phone, and saw that one hour remained before it would start. Nevertheless she had more important things to do. "How?"
"When Honey finds their location, I'm going to tip off Officer Hopps."
"ARE YOU TAKING THE PISS?!" Alyssa clamped her teeth together, but the mammals startled by her outburst almost immediately lost interest and walked on. "Are you taking the piss?"
"You heard her the other week. She finally understands the danger Wilde is in. She'll do what she can to make sure he and Finnick are safe."
"What makes you so sure she's not just going to drag them back to a cell?"
"It was a TUSK commander who betrayed her captain and assisted the attempted assassination of a key witness. That should be enough to help me make Hopps understand why taking those foxes back to the ZPD would be a bad idea." Jack said.
"You really think you can convince her not to arrest them?"
"Honestly, I'm not fully sure I can. But the alternative is hardly any better."
Alyssa stepped onto a bus heading straight for the street where the Palm Hotel was situated. The hotel itself sparkled above the sandy colored buildings like a beacon. "Just don't screw it up, Jack. Do what you can, then make sure you're all geared up by the time I get there." Jack asked why, and she quickly explained Benjamin's abduction and the opportunity it posed. "We're going after Slothfeld. Tonight."
"Got it." There was a tinge of excitement in Jack's voice that she hadn't expected. "I'll meet you on the front steps. Make sure you're wearing something nice."
In spite of recent events, Alyssa laughed as she hung up. She was currently wearing a long red shirt and black pants, and when the pants came off she would be left wearing what could easily pass as a cocktail dress. She kept the pants on for now, and felt her hip to make sure her hidden pistol was there. She had a set of throwing knives strapped to her other thigh, and she made sure they were there too. It may be because she was growing nervous. She had butterflies in her stomach. By the time the bus stopped across the street from the Palm Hotel, she was beginning to feel sick.
She stopped at the bottom of the steps and leaned against a rail. The security guards up top noticed and kept their eye on her, but made no move to confront her. Perhaps they recognized her from her last visit, even though they weren't the guards who'd been at that post every time Alyssa had visited the place. Maybe that was why anxiety levels were through the roof. The first time she'd visited Jack at the hotel was the night they'd wound up in the bedroom. Her most vivid memory of the event had been the most peaceful part. They'd been lying in the middle of the bed, breathing hard the sheet crumpled up over their sweating bodies. Jack had been spooned around her when she'd felt an aftershock from their climax and let out a small gasp. She'd realized then that she'd wanted him. Sometime in the near future, she wanted to do this again. To hold him close, to stroke his long furry ears, to feel him inside her. But then they'd parted and reaffirmed their agreement to not speak of it again. This was not what their HQs had had in mind when they'd permitted their cooperating together. An alliance of this sort was out of the question.
Yes, that's why Alyssa was nervous. All she had to do was keep her paws to herself and everything would be fine.
Jack should show up any time now. Alyssa took her phone and switched on the live TV. The second channel she switched to, OX News, showed Swinton and Bellwether sitting in front of a background of the glowing city skyline, smiles plastered on both their faces. Between them was a horse Alyssa assumed to be the moderator. The moderator introduced himself as George Mane, and unnecessarily introduced the two candidates. Then the screen seized and turned to static.
Alyssa frowned and flicked through other channels. They were working just fine. She returned to the other channel, but it was still a pixelating sea of grey and black. The vixen would be annoyed if it weren't for the lingering butterflies in her stomach.
Something was wrong. Jack should have arrived by now. Alyssa ascended the steps. No guard stepped forward to stop her. In fact, there were no guards at all.
Alyssa peered through the glass. The atrium was empty. She tapped her headset. "Jack? Jack, do you copy?"
There was no answer. Alyssa pulled out her gun and switched channels. "Honey, do you copy?"
"I'm a bit busy right now! What?!"
"How long will it take to access the Palm Hotel security cameras?"
"… A few hours, give or take. Why?"
"Something's happening." That was Alyssa knew for sure.
"I just noticed the cameras for the debate crapped out." Honey said. "I take it you're gonna check on Savage, but be careful. I'll find out what's going on."
Alyssa pushed her way through the entrance. The music was still playing, but other than that the atrium and adjoining lounge and bar were quiet. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen any activity in the atrium even upon arrival. How had the guards at the entrance not noticed?
Unless they had.
Suddenly Alyssa not recognizing them made sense.
Upon entering she atrium she heard a commotion coming from the direction of the casino. Mammals were crying out in distress then abruptly being silenced. Alyssa made sure the safety on her gun was off before approaching the doors. She paused, then changed direction to the security room behind the reception desk.
She went in gun first, but the security room was empty too. The dozen monitors still active filled the room with an ambient light that looked pale green. The only screen putting out audio was the little television in the corner of the room, currently showing the same static. Alyssa quickly found the four monitors displaying the casino.
It looked like a scene straight out of Die Horn. Unknown mammals in dark combat gear wielding guns were herding guests and staff to the clearer parts of the casino and forcing them on their knees. Alyssa held a paw to her throat, expecting a massacre to start any second.
"… We've just received reports of a raid occurring at the ZNN building currently hosting the Mayoral Debate. That's all we know at the current time…"
Alyssa spun round. The channel that had gone kaput had returned to normal, switching to breaking news from OX news at the same time Honey's voice came blaring into the headset.
"Alyssa, are you hearing this?!" She sounded panicked. "A construction site in the Rainforest District was just blown up!"
Alyssa's jaw dropped. "What about the ZNN building?"
"It's being raided! The attackers have sealed off the exits and everything! Now they're saying two helicopters are approaching the site!"
Keeping an eye on the monitors, Alyssa grabbed the remote from the floor and switched channels. Now the reports were talking about a superstore catching fire in the Canyonlands. What was going on? Alyssa stepped toward the monitors as Honey rambled about an incident occurring in Tundratown, having just spotted a white and black ear. She found the full rabbit in the second monitor, paws behind his head as he knelt between a pig and a rhino.
Alyssa let out a strangled scream when the raiders raised their weapons and opened fire.
One by one the hostages collapsed, crimson darts protruding from their bodies. The shooter appeared to pick their targets carefully, some shooting only the small mammals, others shooting the medium mammals, and the rest shooting the big ones. Alyssa watched Jack get hit and collapse almost immediately as Honey shouted into the headset that a bomb had just destroyed part of Precinct One.
Alyssa raised her paw to switch channels and contact Gabe, when someone grabbed her gun paw and the back of her neck. Her other paw shot down towards her hidden throwing knives when a second mammal grabbed that paw, completely incapacitating her. With their free paw, they grabbed a spare crimson tranq dart and plunged it into her neck.
