"You look like shit." Nick said. "You look like you got dragged through a field of rotten beets. You smell like you took a nosedive into a buffalo's cesspit. You're looking at me right now like you want to bite my face off and spit it out into that gutter over there. But I'm still glad to see you."
"And you look like a hobo elephant rear-ended you. So what?" Finnick asked.
Nick had found Finnick creeping under a parked truck two streets from the gondola platform, having had the same idea the bigger fox had, and now they were sitting on the slope beneath the wooden platform, out of sight of the mammals waiting for their turn. Nick stretched out on the smooth rock like he was sunbathing, even though the floor above their heads was blocking out the sunlight. Finding Finnick was like finding out Christmas was happening twice this year, and the fox couldn't keep the smile off his face.
"So I'm just glad to see you, is all." Nick said. "Where've you been the last few hours?"
"Hiding in the sewers. I didn't come out until I reached the system under Savanna Central." Finnick said with the demeanor of someone who had just traversed the Gluttony circle of hell. He sniffed his forearm and recoiled. "I never wanna fucking do that again."
"The shower at Honey's bunker should be free when we get there." Nick said.
"Brilliant." Finnick said. "And this time, we're gonna fucking stay put. Right. Fucking. Put."
"Language, Fin. There's kids up there."
"Speaking of up there, when're we picking up a ride back home?"
"It's that time of day when everyone starts coming home from work, Finnick. We should stay here until the crowd thins out."
Finnick's ears kept twitching in response to the footsteps and voices of the mammals above their heads. He scowled and sat up. "You hear that?"
Nick didn't bother getting up. "You know my ears aren't as ridiculously expansive as yours, buddy. Don't tell me it's the fuzz."
"Close. Shut up for a sec." Finnick said, his ears pricking. "They're talking about a riot."
Nick got up.
"Shit, yeah, I heard about that. Mayor Porkchop's press conference went bad. Really bad."
Nick felt his chest tighten as he spoke. Carrots had been injured the last time he'd heard from her. He strained his ears and focused his full attention on the voices above.
"… was killed, apparently…"
"… I saw it on the news, it was awful. Bellwether started going feral right on…"
"… you think the terrorists want…"
"… think I saw that bunny cop just before it all kicked…"
"Better there than here." Finnick muttered. Then he saw the look on Nick's face. "What? What did I say?"
"Don't break my nose, but we're meeting Carrots later." Nick felt a tiny, hard fist strike his arm and knock him on his side.
"MEETING CARROTS?! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND, SHE'S THE LAST THING WE NEED TO DEAL WITH!"
Nick pounced on Finnick and slapped a paw over his mouth. He stared up at the floorboards, but by some miracle, no-one appeared to have taken notice. "Keep your damn voice down, you idiot!"
Finnick growled "Fine." beneath Nick's paw, and he let the fennec go. "Let me repeat the question. Are you out of your fucking mind?"
"No! Maybe… I don't know!" Nick groaned.
Finnick put his paws together, closed his eyes and exhaled. "Then why?"
Nick looked away from him. "You'd just freak again."
"I won't…" Finnick trailed off under his breath, "… make any promises."
"Just keep the language and violence to a minimum." Nick said. "Me and Carrots are kinda working together."
Finnick's expression was initially blank. "Working together."
Nick nodded. "Yeah. She got hurt in the riot and I'm worried about her."
Finnick closed his eyes, lowered his head, and held his paws over his face. Nick inched away from him, waiting for the explosion.
"You're worried. About Carrots. The bunny cop. Who ruined our lives."
"Technically she didn't ruin our lives. Assistant Mayor Woolton did." Nick said. "I think an explanation is in order."
Finnick's head bobbed, his eyes still shut. "The highest order. Start talking, Nick."
When he was almost done explaining, Nick took it as a good sign that Finnick opened his eyes and not his mouth. "She went back to Precinct One to get the Vorpal Blade, I mean the Data Disk back. We're supposed to meet up later when she gets the disk."
"And you trust her?" Finnick asked slowly.
"Well, the Red Queen, Cheryl, seems to trust her." Nick said. "She roped Carrots into becoming the 'White Queen.'"
"What the hell is the White Queen?"
"Hell if I know."
"That didn't answer the question. Do you trust her?"
"I dunno, maybe. If it wasn't for her those razorbacks would have killed us."
Finnick looked up at the platform, which had fallen silent now that the rush hour had passed. "You're certifiable, you know that? Let's get back to Honey's so I can yell at you some more."
It was nearly dusk when they reached the bunker, only for Finnick's request to be vehemently denied.
Honey pointed to the little crib near the bean bags where Sherry was napping. "If you wake the baby, I swear to God I'll…"
"Ok, ok, we get it. No yelling." Nick said. "Right, Fin?"
Finnick, arms crossed tightly and shoulders slightly shaking with rage, nodded wordlessly.
Honey threw her arms around the pair of them and squeezed. "Oh God, you have no idea how happy I am to see the two of you back here! I hate you so much for running off, but I'm too happy to kill you and killing you might wake Lance!"
Nick had to hold his breath until the badger released them, and even then the sensation of being crushed by a Boarmese Python didn't fade right away. "I know, I know how stupid it was and I'm sorry."
"Me too, you little sheepstalker." Finnick groaned, his voice tight from lack of air.
Honey let him drop to the floor. "I just learned the riot ended about three hours ago. I'll give the fuzz credit for one thing, they know what they're doing when it comes to emergencies."
"What about Carrots?"
"She's okay. The scanner reported them finding her and taking her back to the station. No word on her coming out yet."
Nick looked around to see a second computer Honey had set up so she could watch her hidden security cameras twenty-four seven, and three absent spies. "So. They're off to see the wizard now, are they?"
"Wizard?" Finnick asked.
Nick patted Finnick's back, nudging him toward Honey. "I'll take first shower while Honey explains."
"There's a change of clothes waiting for you two in that box." Honey said, just as the radios on her belt and in Nick's pocket crackled. "Nick! Ryder? Are you there?"
"Shit, it's her!" Nick grabbed his radio. "Carrots, are you okay?"
"Did you get the disk?" Honey asked.
"Will you please stop calling me Carrots? Are you going to let me in or what?"
"Let you in? What're ya talking about? We still need to arrange where you're going to drop off the disk." Nick said. Honey's eyes widened and she raced over to the second computer.
"Well, I've already found Ryder's rainforest hideout."
"HOW DID SHE FIND MY HIDEOUT?!" Honey roared from the second computer, her yell punctuated by the shrill cries of the startled baby Lance. Sherry took a little longer to wake.
"What's that noise? Is that a baby?" Judy's voice took on a suspicious tone.
"Honey's freaking out over you finding her hideout and her freaking out woke the baby." Nick said casually, even as his face turned upward to the sealed hatch above them, his mind almost completely blown. "How did you find this place?"
"Hey, I'm a good enough cop to-"
"Never mind, just get in here before you lead that ramhole right to us."
"Ramwho?"
Nick hesitated and cursed his stupidity in not warning her about Doug. "Just get in here!"
Nick climbed up the ladder, ignoring Finnick's profanity-ridden protests, spun the handle and pushed. The first thing he saw was Judy's awe-struck face, a band-aid under one big lavender eye. "What've you got down there, a submarine?"
Nick chuckled. "I wish."
When they were both inside, Judy's ears flattened from Lance's crying. Sherry was curled up on a beanbag with her paws over her ears. Finnick, on the other hand, was resorting to crawling underneath one.
Judy turned on the spot, taking in her peculiar new surroundings until Honey materialized before the bunny with her paws on her hips, greeting her with the aura of a saber-toothed tiger. "Let's get one thing straight, fluff-butt. If I catch even one whiff of back-up coming to raid this place, I'll make you suffer to your last-"
"This is what you wanted, right?" Judy held up a CD case bearing the image of Gazelle in the peacock feather gown she'd worn one Christmas Eve. Honey froze, staring at the CD like it was the Philosopher's Stone, then took the case and opened it. Both she and Nick eyed the unmarked, shiny blue disk within. "I checked it out on Commissioner Elba's computer to make sure it was the right one, but it appears to be decrypted. Do you think you could, you know, work some technical magic?"
Honey nodded humbly. "I'll see what I can do."
She turned and sat down at her desk, hunching over as thought the insistent screaming of the cub was physically hurting her.
"I'm not an advocate for hitting kids…" Finnick growled from beneath the bean bug. "But will someone please SHUT HIM UP!"
Nick walked over and dragged the little fox out, his nose twitching agitatedly at the stench emanating off him. There was no telling how bad he himself smelled, even after a not-so-refreshing dip in the Tundratown river.
"I'm going in the shower." He said to everyone and no-one, disappearing into the little cubicle.
Nick didn't begin washing out the subway stench right away. The water was running hard enough to drown out everything else, so he lingered in the warn downpour and mulled.
If his misadventures after the rise and fall of Wild Times were ludicrous up until now, it was perhaps even more ludicrous that as they had travelled from the Tundratown Safehouse to Savanna Central, he had begun to feel drawn to his rabbit companion. The part of him hardened by years of living on the edge of the law had urged him not to keep her close, that he had good cause to hate her. Yet recent events had long since taught him that Wild Times had been a mistake, and Judy had made amends several times over. It also felt good to meet a cop he could trust not to beat him bloody just for putting his paw in his pocket.
When he turned the shower off, he didn't notice right away that the cries had stopped, only noticing when he pulled on his clothes and returned to find little Lance in Judy's arms. The oversized furry bundle was sleeping, sedated by the soft tunes coming from the rabbit's mouth.
"What're you doing?" Nick asked.
Judy shushed him, managing to mask the sound as part of the tune. Eventually she stopped to make sure the baby was sound asleep, and then lowered him back into the crib. Finnick and Sherry were sitting on different bean bags, staring at the rabbit, while Honey appeared to be too engrossed in decoding the Data Disk to even notice the baby had stopped crying. Judy gazed down at the baby with a look Nick had never before seen a prey mammal give a child with fangs and claws before dusting her paws and turning to Nick apologetically. "When a third of your siblings are ten and under, you learn how to handle them. I'm sorry if I overstepped my bounds."
"I-I'm sure Gabe won't mind." Nick didn't know why he stammered.
"Who's Gabe?"
"That is on a need to know basis!" Honey called from the desk.
"Oh, you're talking about that feline from the Arctic House."
"And of course the great Sherlock Hopps figures it out anyway!" Nick threw his arms up and then threw the rest of his body into another bean bag. "Have a seat, Carrots, this is gonna take a while."
Judy sat down on the last remaining beanbag, watching Honey's back as she worked. She had the same intense look she had when she had questioned Nick about his suspicious parking lot.
"Damn it!" The badger suddenly punched the desk and spun round in her chair. "I was hoping it'd be an easy fix, but I've never seen an algorithm like this! If I had the decryption key I could crack this thing, but I've got nothing to work with! I don't even know if I need a cypher or a plain old password!"
"Calm down, Honey." Nick said. "How long will it take you to decrypt it without the decryption key or whatever you crypto-geeks call it?"
"Years, if I can even decrypt it at all!"
"Fu- fudge that!" Finnick said with a quick glance at Sherry. "Just wait for Alyssa and her super spy posse to bring Slothfeld back and then we can wring the password out of him!" He bristled when he saw the dark look Judy was giving him. "What? You gonna book me for beating on a psycho who deserves far worse? If you've got something to say, say it!"
Finnick must have interpreted the rabbit's expression as disapproval, but Nick saw something else. Trepidation. Hers was the face of someone who had heard some very bad news, and it worried him. "Carrots? What is it?"
"We may not have time to wait." Judy said, her voice small but steady. "Commissioner Elba caught me taking the disk back at Precinct One, but instead of arresting me he gave me some news. Cheryl, I mean, the Red Queen gave her demands to Swinton a little before the press conference. She's been hiding it from the ZBI to avoid being put under investigation herself."
"And?" Honey asked. "Come on, spit it out! What does Cheryl want?"
"The truth."
"Truth?"
Judy was stock still at this point, relaying the information like she was speaking at a witness stand. "The truth behind the savage attacks. The truth behind the death of Assistant Mayor Woolton. The truth behind the Liberum attack in Roarcadia. She wants Mayor Swinton to confess everything."
"Yeah, like that's ever going to happen." Finnick grumbled.
"That's why the commissioner told me everything." Judy said. "He's convinced that Swinton won't give in until it's too late."
"Too late?" Nick felt an icy pit in his stomach. "What happens if Swinton doesn't admit the truth?"
"Cheryl will remotely trigger all the hostages' collars, and then disperse the serum into the city's water supply." Judy's voice turned slightly shaky. "Swinton has until midnight, on the anniversary of the implementation of the first TAME Collar Law."
Honey turned to her computer and quickly Zoogled the date. "That's only four days from now!"
"And we can't access the fudging data!" Finnick groaned.
"I gotta call Alyssa. She needs to know about this." Honey strode over to her radio.
"You'll need to tell them that Bogo, McHorn and Higgins are up there, too." Judy said. "Elba sent them to Founder's Mountain to find information on Sedor and Slothfeld."
Finnick sighed and draped himself over the beanbag. "Oh, this just keeps getting better and better!"
Honey was cursing under her breath as she worked, up until she got through to Alyssa's headset. Nick motioned for the others to keep their voices down.
"How long do you think it would take to find Slothfeld and bring him back?" Judy asked.
Nick thought about it. "It took about an hour, maybe two, to get to the sawmill from the edge of the city. But we already know Slothfeld's not there. There's a lodge and an asylum further up, but it would probably take more than a day, maybe two, to search both those places and get back down the mountain."
"Yeah, I've heard of the asylum. It's a big building with tons of rooms." Finnick said. "And with only three of them, six if you're counting the bunny's buddies, there's no… there's no freakin' way. They'll never find him and get the key in time."
Sherry popped up in the middle of the group, interrupting the tense silence. "Why don't we go up there and help them find him?"
Nick patted the girl's shoulder. "That's a great idea, except Gabe and the others won't want our help."
Sherry pouted, her expression looking very much like Judy's. "And why not?"
"Because we're not badbutts."
"The word is badass, and you are badasses. Especially you two." Sherry pointed at Nick and Judy. "You took on a bad ram and a giant skeleton bird monster to save Benji."
"It wasn't a skeleton bird thingy, it was a bear in a costume." Judy said, momentarily smiling at the little girl. "But she does have a point. I need to go up there and find Bogo."
"Bumpkin, no offense, but this is why you got read the riot act after Little Rodentia." Finnick said. "You don't even know where to start looking for them."
"Elba said they were heading to the lodge last he heard from them."
Nick held a paw up. "Carrots, you've just been to hell and back. You're hurt for Christ's sakes."
"They're just scratches. They don't even hurt anymore."
"And when was the last time you got any sleep?"
"That's irreleva-"
"It's totally relevant, and exactly what Cheryl was talking about. You need to start thinking things through more often, Carrots." He paused at the scandalized look on her face. "Look, just do yourself a favor and get some rest before you head out. It'll be easier to get out the city in the dead of night anyway."
Judy seemed torn, but before she could make her decision, Honey set down her headset and turned to the others. "Alyssa said to keep the disk here and stay put. It's too dangerous to go after them."
"What's their situation?" Judy asked.
"Almost to the lodge."
"After all this time?"
"They had to take a detour through the city. Because of that riot, they've bumped up the fuzz traffic in every district. They double-checked the sawmill first and reckon someone else was there recently. Probably the bunny's friends looking for evidence."
"Any sign of Benji?" Finnick asked, ears perking. Nick's ears perked as well.
Honey's own ears fell flat. "Sorry."
Nick caught the sympathetic look Judy was giving him and looked away. "I'm going to contact some friends, see if there's anyone who can help me decode this disk."
She returned to the computer and started typing. Nick walked over to her and looked over her shoulder at the screen. Whatever interface she was using, if it even was an interface, looked far from user-friendly. If Benjamin was here, he would be up all night asking her how this worked and that worked, but he wasn't. Nick hadn't seen him since the Arctic House Incident. Benjamin had always been the goody-two-paws sort, always avoiding a fight, always cowering at the side when a fight started. The night Nick had last seen Benjamin had been the night he stopped cowering and shot a murderous giant bear with a big fucking gun. Yet Nick was still cowering, right here in an underground bunker, letting other mammals solve his problems while Benjamin was somewhere on that mountain at the mercy of a dirty cop. Then there were those mysterious psychos that had killed those TUSKs and Mr. Big's drug manufacturers, and nearly killed Agent Savage as well.
"Honey, do you really think you and these friends can crack this thing?" He asked.
"I've got a couple who I won't name who eat algorithms for breakfast. It's definitely doable." Honey said, getting back a little of that conspiracy-theory-overconfidence.
"So you think you'll be able to crack this thing, expose the conspiracy, and take down all those assholes out to kill us, before they finally track us down and kill us?"
"Realistically?"
"Yes, realistically."
He saw Honey's throat move as she swallowed. "I don't."
Nick moved away from Honey and started looking for some booze. Six hours. He'd get some sleep and give it six hours. Whatever happens then would make the difference between him doing the smart thing or the crazy thing.
