Jack couldn't help but smile at the look on Alyssa's face when he opened the large duffel bag, the cold Fall wind blowing at their form-fitting suits.

"No." The vixen breathed. "No way."

Jack pulled the frame out first, then the black and blue sails, enjoying her amazement. "Way." He said once everything was spread out on the floor of the helipad at sat at the summit of the Palm Hotel.

"Where the hell did you manage to hide this?" Alyssa glanced at the elevator door nearby, as if expecting someone to walk in at any minute and discover them.

"That, Miss Skyefall, will remain my secret." Jack had once clocked himself at twelve minutes, but tonight, with an arm still smarting from the cut a savage goat's horn had given him, it took him fifteen to assemble the hang glider.

"The Figaro Laminar." Jack told her after doing a quick check of the general apparatus.

"216 MRX." Alyssa finished for him, surprising the rabbit. "I learned to hang glide for this mission in Kazakhstag. I'd give details, but well, you know, classified. I can tell you it was an RX2."

Jack looked down at the frame. "How did you know what model this is? It hasn't been distributed to the public yet."

Alyssa scratched behind her ear. "A list of gear was in the intel I filched from you… which we already agreed to put behind us." She added quickly when she saw Jack's scowl.

The rabbit agreed to let it go and started setting up their tandem harnesses. Hang gliding was probably the only hobby he had outside of work, especially the maintenance. During that unpleasant period in which he had made absolutely no progress with his mission, he'd spent an entire day in the suite examining each and every component.

"Not that I'm scared of heights, but are you sure about this?" Alyssa asked as they turned the glider the right way up and aimed it in the direction of the Rainforest district. Jack had brought it along in case he'd need to infiltrate Slothfeld's hideout from above, but tonight his destination was the roof of a building in Savanna Central, just beyond the border between that district and Sahara Square.

Jack looked over the city skyline for signs of air traffic and saw nothing. "Ramses works for Swinton and the Triumvirate, who think I'm an agent of the Congressional Research Service. Now that he's seen my face, it's only a matter of time before they learn the truth and do something about it. We have to leave, now."

"But will it carry us both?" Alyssa asked.

"I have done this before you know." Jack said. Once before, with an abducted general turned traitor. He ran back into the suite, picked up the hang glider bag and put the suitcase full of gear in his hiding place. After Jack had assured himself that there was nothing in his stolen PDA that would blow Llater's cover, he'd contacted the llama and asked him to pick it up when he could. It wasn't ideal, but Jack's gun and crossbow were all he could take with him right now. He returned to the helipad with the weapons in tow. "I'll carry this. It'll even things out enough to make the trip safely. Put on your harness." He handed her the safety harness and she put it on quickly while Jack slipped on the harness that would attach him to Alyssa. He'd gone over the calculations in his head over and over until he was sure the weight was right. All that was left now was how Alyssa fared at steering. "You remember the target?"

"The roof of the Greener Grass Mall, yes." Alyssa said as she slipped into her leg harnesses. "The wind makes it the most convenient spot."

A minute later they were ready. Alyssa tested the wind one more time, but the direction hadn't changed. Jack didn't miss the irony of all this testing when neither of them were wearing helmets.

Suddenly Llater barked at him through his headset. "Savage, you there?"

"I'm here."

"Swinton knows who you are! She's sent TUSK to apprehend you! You need to check out of that hotel, oh, I don't know, NOW!"

"Already on my way out the door, Llater. I'll call you when I'm safe."

Alyssa straightened, lifting Jack off his feet. Now he knew how the general had felt. "You ready?" She asked.

"As I'll ever be." Jack said. "Alyssa?"

"Yes?"

"No aerobatics. Please."

One short run off the edge of the helipad later and then the two mammals were airborne, suspended between the midnight colored fabric wings above and the gargantuan palm leaves below. The hang glider took them north west, propelled by the cold early morning wind as they soared unnoticed in the navy-blue sky. They crossed high over the nugget sized buildings and pinprick lights of the sandstone sprawl that was inner Sahara Square, then the desert dunes, casting all manner of shadows. Then they crossed the border, which from this height looked non-existent, and then they were over the concrete jungle of Savanna Central. Jack enjoyed the fantastic experience of having everything become smaller than him more than anything else hang gliding had to offer, but this time his thoughts were on sensation of the vixen's body pressed against his own. He'd almost lost her last night. He'd misunderstood Ramses' motives for being at the hotel and foolishly left Alyssa to deal with the ruthless ram alone. He never wanted to do that again.

He almost didn't hear Alyssa over the wind. "Honey just called! She got my warning and sealed the bunker! Ramses won't get in even if he finds the hatch!"

Jack looked ahead at the rapidly approaching rooftop of the Greener Grass Mall. "You'll need to start bringing us down!"
"Yes, I know!" Alyssa was already beginning the descent. The roof expanded from a jagged pebble to a great flat landing strip. Jack raised his legs so Alyssa wouldn't trip, and a second later they touched down.

By then the navy-blue sky had lightened to a foggy grey. Jack and Alyssa worked quickly to disassemble the glider and tuck it into the bag, before sliding down a drainpipe to street level. As they were crossing the road toward the cheap cherry colored car Llater had provided for them Alyssa stopped and touched her headset. "What's up, Honey… good, good. Wait, what?" The vixen's eye widened. "Christ on a bike, we'll be right there."

"Is it Ramses?" Jack asked.

Alyssa shook her head. "I'll explain once we're in the car."

At the start of the long and windy drive to the Rainforest District, Alyssa quickly relayed what Honey had told her.

First, Ramses hadn't shown up at the bunker yet. Either he was biding his time or his boss had redirected him elsewhere.

Second, Nick Wilde had contacted her from her safehouse in Tundratown to inform her that Officer Judy Hopps had officially joined the fugitive dance cart and they were laying low until further notice.

Third, Gabriel Mossberg had caught his missing wife kidnapping the son of a crime lord.

Eager for details, they both leapt out the car as soon as they were outside the tree house hiding the bunker entrance, keeping their guns out in case Ramses decided to ambush them. They entered the dusty, disused house and opened the trapdoor. Alyssa touched her headset. "Honey, we're here. Open up."

A minute passed before the hatch unlocked. Jack jumped down first, hitting the floor and immediately spotting a downcast Mossberg sitting on a beanbag with Sherry on his lap. Alyssa closed the hatch, dropped down beside him and made a beeline for the badger sitting at the desk. "Would you mind explaining what the hell is going on? What's going on with Nick and that bunny?"

"Ask them yourself." Honey pointed to the microphone attached to the communication equipment connecting all her safehouses. Jack approached so he could better hear the conversation, ignoring the looks Honey and Gabe were giving him. It would seem that it would take more than nearly dying from anaphylaxis to prove he could be trusted.

"Nick, you there?" Alyssa spoke into the microphone.

"Alyssa?" They heard Nick's anxious voice. "God, it's good to see you… er, maybe not see… you know what I mean!"

"Settle down, Nick." Alyssa said soothingly. "Just slow down and tell me what's going on."

Nick explained everything from Gabe's successful rescue mission at Glacier Heights to TUSK's attempt to kill him and Finnick.

"… They pretty much admitted they were given orders to silence us." Nick said bitterly. "I suppose it's a step up from being killed just for being a predator."

Jack blinked when he heard Judy Hopps' voice. "That hasn't happened before, has it?!"

"More often than you think, Carrots."

Sherry's ear twitched. "Who's Carrots?" Gabe chuckled and explained it to her while the conversation continued.

"Anyway, that's when Carrots here showed up and tried to stop them." Nick went on. Alyssa and Honey locked eyes in surprise. "Crazy, I know."

"No, it's not!" Judy snapped. "Fugitive or not, I was not going to stand by and let them kill you for no good reason!"

"Yes, you've made that very, very clear." Nick's words were mocking, but his tone was not. It wasn't often that an officer intervened on a predator's behalf, and it had never happened to a fox. "Anyway, the razorbacks realized she'd heard what they said and tried to kill her too. That was when the Mag-Ryder turned into a mammal catapult."

Honey put her face beside Alyssa's and growled into the microphone. "You are so, so, so lucky that thing is waterproof!"

"… I said I was sorry."

Alyssa tilted her head away from the angry badger. "You're not going to ask about Finnick?"

"I already told him Finnick escaped back into the sewer." Gabe said. "If I could fit down there I would have gone after him. Unfortunately we don't know where he's ended up but he should be fine. He knows the streets better than anyone else here."

"Right now I'd like to hear more about Starlight." Alyssa said.

Honey's expression toward Gabe was uncharacteristically somber. "You don't mind, do you?"
"Go ahead." Gabe said, the tone alone making Jack anxious.

Honey spun her chair to face him and Alyssa directly. "As I said, Gabriel caught Starlight abducting Koslov's son, Morris after he helped Nick and Finnick escape. She got away with the kid when TUSK invaded."

"What in God's name would Slothfeld want with the son of a crime boss?" Jack asked. Everyone turned to stare at him. "What? We know Slothfeld's been experimenting with collars that inhibit free will. I think it's safe to say that he put Starlight up to this."

"That's what the new TAME collars do?" Nick sneered over the radio. "I'd rather face the zapper."

"Burrowing bounders. I'm sorry I ever trusted that pig." Judy muttered.

Jack saw Gabe's face contort murderously and instinctively checked that his gun was in the holster. So much for bringing Slothfeld back in one piece.

"What's the situation in Tundratown and Sahara Square?" Alyssa asked.

"Koslov and most of the goons in Glacier Heights got away, but he was hit by a dart and they were forced to leave his wife behind. Probably for the best, with that blow to the head. She's at the hospital now." Honey said. "As for the Palm Hotel, there were a few deaths but every mammal that turned savage was successfully captured. I don't know where they're being held yet, but that's not really important anyway."

Jack grimaced. He didn't wanted to think about the bloodbath now. "So now what? Do we wait here and wait for Ramses to show his wooly mug?" Alyssa asked.

Jack stepped in front of her so she could see his glare. "We do that, Slothfeld could be long gone by the time we finally get round to continuing the mission! When he finds out the ZIA are here he take all his research and vanish."

"I don't think he'll be going anywhere anytime soon." Nick said.

Jack paused, more intrigued that angered by the fox's calculation, and strode up to the microphone. "What makes you think that?"

"The data disk that contains all his data is still missing." Nick said.

Jack and Alyssa traded wide-eyed glances. "That's right. The disk is everything to Slothfeld, so he won't leave without it. We still have time to capture him."

"He's right." Gabe appeared beside them, holding Sherry with one arm. "I think it's time we returned to Founder's Mountain."

Jack was about to agree when something in Nick's words gave him pause. "Wait, who's we?"

"Carrots told me what happened to Ben." Nick said, his voice hard. "I'm going to help you get him back."

"I admire your dedication but it's too dangerous for a civilian, and a wanted one at that." Jack said.

"Oh, so I suppose you won't need my help to find the Data Disk, will you?"

Jack's paw shot out and grabbed the microphone. "You know where it is?!"

"Correction. Carrots knows where it is. Second correction, I figured out most of it."

Judy butted in. "Third correction, you told me the disk was disguised as a Gazelle CD and Bogo had it and I figured it out from there."

"Will the pair of you pack it in before one of you pops the question?!" Alyssa raged. "Where is the bloody disk?"

The response was a garbled result of Nick and Judy simultaneously chewing out Alyssa and then practically trampling over each other to give the answer first. "In Captain Bogo's office." Judy eventually managed to get through to them. "It's in the box of stuff the hospital took off Bogo when he was brought into the ER. No-one has touched the box so far as I know. I could go in there and get it and bring it to you."

Jack's ear twitched at the curious huff from the vixen at his side. "You're not going to turn it in as evidence?"

Judy sighed. "As much as I want to, I think turning the disk in will just help it get back into Slothfeld's hands. Even if the Red Queen hadn't warned me about TUSK, what happened at Glacier Heights pretty much convinced me that-"

Alyssa bodily knocked Jack aside to grab the microphone herself. "What did you say?"

Judy's voice faltered at the ferocity in Alyssa's tone. "E-excuse me?"

"You said the Red Queen!" Alyssa said with bared teeth. "Who's calling themselves the Red Queen?"

"Uhhh… Cheryl Radames Ransome." Nick said warily. "Red Queen is her nickname, you told us yourself." There was a long pause punctuated by a heavy sigh. "Don't bite my head off for saying this, but I think we both know who's behind the terrorist attack." Nick said.

Alyssa cut him off fiercely. "No! Absolutely not! She wouldn't do something like this!"

Jack stepped up beside her. "Alyssa, I doubt Mossberg would normally carve up a caribou with a chainsaw, but he did." Alyssa silently seethed before the microphone, claws digging into the table. "I'm sorry but we have to consider the possibility that she's under Slothfeld's control as well."

Alyssa shook her head with a snarl. "That bastard…"
Nick sounded sympathetic as he spoke. "I recognized her voice on the phone. I'm sorry, Alyssa."

Alyssa turned her back on the microphone and started pacing the room, eyes hard with anger. Sherry looked like she wanted to go over to the vixen, but Gabe gently held her in place and whispered for the cub to give her her space. Jack closed his eyes, thinking of all the ways Cheryl acting on Slothfeld's orders didn't make sense, but he didn't say them out loud. To suggest the alternative would just piss Alyssa off even more. For now, until he got all the facts, he would say nothing.

"Enough." He hadn't intended to sound so gentle. "Only three things matter right now. We need to find Slothfeld and put an end to this, Ramses could come here any second, and someone has to infiltrate Precinct One and get that disk back."

"Leave that to me." Judy said. "I work directly under Bogo, so no-one will suspect me if I enter his office. I anyone asks, I'll tell them I didn't know Bogo was away. I may have to undergo questioning about what happened at Glacier Heights first, but they won't hold me for long."

The only flaw Jack saw in that plan was the TUSK presence, but even that would be diminished with the ongoing hunt for Koslov. "You sure about that, Hopps?"

"I am. I want to stop Slothfeld as much as you do."

Jack drummed his fingers on the table. "I guess there's nothing I can do to stop you. I'll call my contact, have them do what they can to keep TUSK off your tail. Mossberg, Alyssa and I will go after Slothfeld."

"I'll get the gear ready right away." Alyssa strode swiftly to Honey's weapons safe, her thick bushy tail swishing agitatedly side-to-side. Jack surmised that mentioning Cheryl again would be unwise at this time. The clicking of computer keys filled his ears; Honey was at her computer again, checking out the latest news. Gabe was explaining to Sherry that he would be going away for some time while checking that his kukris were still in the condition for slitting throats. Through the radio he could hear Nick and Judy starting to bicker about the pros and cons of following the rest of the team to Founder's Mountain.

Jack realized what he'd just called the motley group and snickered, incredulous at his situation. He'd started this mission as a solo agent and had expected to stay solo to the very end. He'd rarely partaken in missions as part of a team, and while they hadn't actively put him in danger they hadn't exactly treated him as an equal either. Then again his teammates back than had been seasoned agents who considered their careers a bit too daring for a mere bunny.

The mammals in this room and on the other end of the radio was not the kind of team he was used to. For one thing no higher power had picked and assembled them; they'd simply come together through simple circumstance and coincidence. But that hadn't stopped them from joining forces that night at the Arctic House, when Jack had needed an antidote and Nick's feline friend was attacked by a sniper. Even Bogo and his friends had gotten in on it, risking their lives to protect Benjamin from that homicidal grizzly.

Heh, talk about promoting race relations. Still, I'd better make sure Miss Morton never finds out civilians are in on this or I'll never hear the end of it.

"Hey, guys." Honey spoke up, interrupting Jack's train of thought. "Swinton's doing a press conference outside the ZNN building tomorrow to talk about what happened at the Palm Hotel. They'll be sending Precinct One's best to protect her, so if the bunny is really going to go get that disk that's as good a time as any."

Alyssa only appeared to be half listening, if her sudden cantankerous shout was any indication. "Savage! Are you going to gear up or not?"

"Kind of hard to do when most of it is still hidden at the top of a giant palm tree!" Jack snapped back. Alyssa scoffed and returned to the contents of the safe.

"I'll get the hang glider from the car." He strode to the ladder and started climbing.

He soothed himself with gentle mutters on the way up, deliberating every possibility that could occur as a result of this unanticipated alliance. If this was going to be a team effort, it would be up to him to do his part as well… if he didn't die of stress first.