Hey Everyone!
I'll keep this quick author's note short, as you guys got a whole lot of goodness ahead of you with this new chapter. For it, I have a single musical suggestion that I think pairs exceedingly well with the mysterious and ancient atmosphere of the scenes that take place deep within the caves of The Painted Labyrinth.
Here is my musical suggestion for the scenes where Nick and Judy explore the caves: Ancient Music - Cave Paintings
I also have a second one for the action/fight scene around the middle of the chapter. You'll know it when you see it, I'm sure.
Here is the second musical suggestion for that very scene: Skull Island Tribal Combat Theme
Though I recommend listening to it as you read, if you can, it is certainly not required. Anyways, that just about does it. Let's jump right into this!
Do enjoy...
"Some things are better left buried and forgotten." - Lauren Oliver
8:00 P.M
Another twenty-four full hours had passed since Nick and Judy's latest convergence with their temporary superior, Chief Tom Urzo.
With all of the evidence that the two officers had compiled thus far, from the sudden disappearance of the marsupials, to the connection of the recent string of earth tremors and sinkholes across the district, Chief Urzo finally deemed the current situation too important to turn the other cheek, and so, at last issued the order to conduct a full-scale police raid into the hollowed depths of The Painted Labyrinth. With this latest act, the ZPD and Precinct Seven made the next big leap forward in taking down Iluka Rombahe.
Thankfully, after Chief Urzo made the official call for material assistance from some of the other districts, it didn't take long for Precinct Seven to be outfitted with all the proper requirements for a full-scale raid: Flashlights, body armor, tranquilizers, ropes, a few motion sensors, and yes, even real firearms, of which had to be imported over from Precinct Two over in Tundra-Town. Alongside physical objects, a couple riot officers were also dispatched for assisting in the raid of The Painted Labyrinth. Soon enough, a small army of a dozen and a half strong were set and ready to initiate the final push for dominance over the criminal figurehead that had barricaded himself somewhere deep down underground.
For the past hour and a half, the raid team had put the finishing touches on the preparation of the operation, including general briefings on the overall plan, the goals behind it, backup plans, and various formation strategies to help them get the upper hand on their opponents, if a big fight were to break out. Nick and Judy themselves had spent the last half hour gearing themselves up for the oncoming showdown with Iluka; Nick adorned himself with a thick-padded riot vest, and Judy sported her classic knife-proof chest-piece.
Dispatching from the Deciduous-District's police precinct head-quarters, the lapin and vulpine officers, along with nearly a dozen and a half others as well, set out for the closest entrance to The Painted Labyrinth. Though the cave system was vast, and the team didn't know exactly where the marsupials had set up shop, they did have a general idea as to the area that they would be located in: A patch of ancient lava tubes that branched off from the main tunnel-system, stretching several miles southwestward. It was one of the lesser explored areas of the labyrinth, and so Nick and Judy realized that if the raid team wanted to make any progress with this endeavor of theirs, then they would need to cooperate and work together to track down Iluka and all the marsupials before something bad happened. Along the way, Judy could have sworn she heard shaking sounds below.
Soon enough, the team arrived at the entrance to The Painted Labyrinth.
The cave mouth reminded Judy of her adventures with Nick in the Nocturnal-District: The haunting gusts of wind whirling past the rocks, the sharpened stones, the inky-black atmosphere; All of it took her back. Nostalgia wasn't something that Judy felt very often, but when it came knocking, she welcomed it with warm and open arms every single time. Focusing on the now, the rabbit turned her attention to the front of the raid team, and with tranquilizer guns pointed forward, led the group of mammals into the cave.
Upon first setting foot inside, Nick himself could have sworn that he saw a broken piece of what looked like a tiny wooden cane, but he didn't linger on the thought for very long.
As the raid group carefully yet swiftly picked its way through the caves, the atmosphere and overall layout of the caves began to vastly change; From crooked chunks of rock and rubble to smooth, gooey-looking tunnels with a cylindrical shape to them. Now, the raid group was in a lava tube, and the journey was only just beginning. Soon enough, they came across their first cave painting. Although she was in the very lead of the big group, Judy couldn't resist taking a brief and simple moment to stop and admire what she saw.
Smeared across the smooth rock wall in a flourishing display of colorful swirls, dots, and lines, the rabbit gazed in awe upon a beautiful piece of neolithic mammalian art. With her bright flashlight trained on the side of the lava tube, she was able to visually spot out painted paw and hoof prints, the hunched over shapes of animals walking on all four legs, and ancient displays of line art. However, with the light trained on the wall, she noticed details that shouldn't have been there: Claw marks, and recently made, judging by their almost chalky texture, and strange cracks egging around the edges of the painting, as if someone had been trying to chisel it right off of the wall. She nearly felt herself gasp out.
In that moment, one of the other officers from the behind of her accidentally stumbled over her, due to the rabbit's rather sudden halt in movement. She turned around saw that it was Nick. Unlike most of the other officers, including herself, who adorned night-vision goggles and flashlights, Nick was one of the few who didn't need to do so, allowing his emerald-green eyes to stare out at Judy and lock gazes with that of her own. Clearing his throat audibly, the fox then shuffled forward a bit to make room for those behind him.
"Hey, what's the hold up?" Someone called out irritably from the group. Judy couldn't pinpoint just who, but she didn't care. She stated out loud;
"I'm sorry, I just... Had a moment there..."
"We need to keep going." Nick stated reassuringly. "Come on, Whiskers, let's go and finish this."
"Right." The rabbit nodded firmly in agreement.
Turning around and eyeing the darkness in front of her once again, Judy's flashlight briefly passed over other spots on the smooth walls around her. She noticed even more of those strange cracks, and some discoloring in the rock. She mentally concluded that someone, likely Iluka and his men, were chiseling away at the stone-age cave paintings in the lava tubes. Perhaps the marsupials figured that since they were here already, they might as well get some trophies to take with them, or something, that way if their little expedition happened to go south, then they would still have at least some token of success from the mission here in the depths of The Painted Labyrinth, she thought to herself.
It disgusted Judy, whom found the act to be an appalling display of greed and disregard. Iluka Rombahe, this supposed lover of old history and culture, was ruining The Painted Labyrinth all just for his own personal gain? That wasn't what an archaeologist, or any historian, for that matter, should have done, Judy considered. All the more, it made her want to catch the mammals behind it, if only to throw them in prison where they belong, and to serve strong justice to those that deserved it. She made it her goal to succeed.
Continuing ever deeper into the depths of the earth itself, the raid team witnessed ever the more marks of desolation: Rigid cracks and crushed boulders, undoubtedly the result of the minor earthquakes and tremors caused by the dynamite explosions somewhere in the labyrinth. Despite being an archaeologist, it was clear that Iluka Rombahe, along with his men, held no hesitation in ruining these beautiful caves just to suit their own ends. To Judy, it was all terribly wrong, and perhaps the very embodiment of hypocrisy.
Thousands of years ago, stone-age mammals had set aside their differences and came together, here, to make revolutionary developments in art and culture, and yet it was all slowly being destroyed. These paintings, many of which that had lasted for entire centuries on end, were crumbling before the weight of change caused by greed. It made Judy sick. To herself, she made a personal promise to make Iluka Rombahe and his mob pay for the damage that they had done to this beautiful site of art and mammalian history.
Another twenty minutes of snooping around the caverns passed before the raid team felt their first tremor.
Suddenly, the ground began to shake beneath their feet, causing small pebbles to rattle around and clatter against the hard rock floor of the lava tube. A surprisingly loud and immediate explosive sound resonated around them, some of the officers screaming in surprise and anxiety. Cracking noises pierced Judy's ears, and she looked up to see snaking crevices suddenly break through the walls around them, crumbling rock to dust and causing the earth to shake as the lava tube begun to quickly fall apart before their very eyes.
Without so much as a moment of thought, the rabbit felt a force push her from behind, and a pair of arms wrap around her shoulders as she was suddenly and without notice shoved forward and away from the raid group. Behind her, she heard a horrible crunching sound of a thousand pounds of rock suddenly coming down, and in that moment, a large and billowing cloud of dust and debris roared past, sending chunks of stone flying past their heads and Judy and whoever had pushed her tumbled over and landed hard on the cave floor. More cracking sounds followed suit, but soon enough, the cloud of ash settled, and the noises quelled. The rabbit dared to lift her head up from her place of refuge.
The cave to the behind of them had completely collapsed. Large chunks of rock and rubble formed a massive pile of debris that would have taken a bulldozer to disperse. Judy's head lolled to the side, and she realized that her savior had been none other than Nick, her beloved husband. His heightened senses must've caused him to react to the threat of danger, ultimately pushing his wife forward in an effort to protect her. He had a few scratches visible on his nose, and he was caked in dust, but otherwise, he looked just fine.
Nick coughed a few times as he raised his upper body from the cavern floor. "Did that really just happen?" He muttered through the gags of discomfort.
"Yeah... Looks like we're stuck here. But you saved me, Nick... Thank you." Judy replied, though near moments afterwords, heard a slight voice call out from through the debris;
"Officers! Are you okay?"
Judy sighed hard in relief. The others had survived the collapse! They must have been cut off behind the wall of rubble.
"We're still alive!" The rabbit found herself calling out. "A bit disoriented, but alive."
"And you guys?" Nick shouted back, cupping his paws to his mouth so as to amplify the sound of his voice. A few unnerving seconds of silence until the voice responded again;
"Battered, but could be worse. Officer Yaskson took a pretty bad hit, but he'll make it through."
"Officer Hopps and I are stuck back here. What do we do?" The fox asked as he calmly wiped the layer of dust and ash off of his forearms.
For another few seconds, the voice was slow to respond. When it finally did, it sounded pained. "U-uh, you need to find a way out, immediately!" The voice demanded.
"Is something wrong over there?" Judy questioned, concern lacing the tone behind her words. This time, the voice was quick to respond;
"Yakson got hit harder than we thought! He's bleeding from his forehead. We need to get him back to the surface right away. You two, j-just use your maps! Find a new way out! There's gotta be one of them around there somewhere. Don't wait for help; It'll take ages to get the materials down here needed to clear out those rocks. You'll starve to death sooner than that. Besides, if we're hit with another tremor like that, this is the last place you'd want to be! Go, find a new exit, and regroup with us back at the precinct!"
"Affirmative." The rabbit agreed, standing up to her full height and brushing the dust off of her chest-plate. "We gotta keep moving, Nick."
"The student becomes the teacher." Nick mumbled coyly, referring to how he had instructed Judy of the exact same thing not too long ago.
From there, the fox jumped up onto a large boulder, scrambling his way up with Judy following shortly behind him. Due to the large amounts of rubble and ruin, it took them nearly a half hour to go just a few dozen meters. It was a long and difficult process, but eventually, they managed to reach an area that had yet to be crumbled by the force of the dynamite explosions. These new lava tubes looked as peaceful as ever, as though they hadn't been touched in eons. Yet still, the environment radiated a sense of dreadful uncertainty and danger. Both Nick and Judy knew that if another big explosion rocked the place, they might not be so lucky the next time. They had to find a way out, and fast.
Problem was, they had virtually no idea where they currently were.
Sparing fleeting glances at one of the maps of The Painted Labyrinth that they had been given sometime before the start of the raid, Nick and Judy tried to maneuver their way through what seemed an endless maze of cold, unknown darkness. Time passed, and although they made a few wrong turns here and there, judging by the map and the overall shape of the caverns that they had explored thus far, they reasoned that they must've been getting closer to the very heart of the cave system, where the very lava that carved these tunnels first formed. It was almost humbling, being in the presence of such ancient formations, but the bunny and fox both knew that there was very little time to waste.
Eventually, they decided to stop and take a short break to rest and plan their escape from the labyrinth. Their place of refuge was a long and winding cave, smooth in texture, and with a surprisingly deep stream of crystal clear water running straight through it. The liquid looked just so tantalizingly refreshing, that Judy almost jumped right in. She was very thirsty, and to her, that creek just looked like perhaps the cleanest, most breathtaking body of water in the world right then and there. Nick, however, was much opposed to it, despite his own thirst; He told his partner that the risks of drinking that water were too great to work with, as he'd read somewhere that underground water had acid in it.
It didn't look too acidic to her, but once Nick pointed it out, the rabbit began to notice an almost milky froth developed around the rim of the stream, less clear than the water itself, but foaming with minuscule amounts of bubbles. Maybe the water wasn't so safe to drink after all. The Painted Labyrinth, despite all of its beauty and serenity, was truly a twisting maze of danger and deception. Just about everything in it seemed almost purposefully designed to make exploring the place as discomforting and treacherous as possible.
Choosing to ignore the delicious-looking stream, Judy instead focused her attention on her other senses; Anything but her sudden and rather inconvenient sense of thirst.
Admiring the layout of the smooth rock formations around her, the rabbit mentally took note of just how clean and untouched this particular lava tube seemed to be. Not even a single footprint, claw mark, or piece of litter to be found. It could have stood peaceful for years on end, save for Nick and Judy deciding to take their break within it. There were worse places to be. The bunny also noticed that slimy brown roots dangled from the cavern ceiling, some few crawling right down the side of the cave way like veins to reach the stream of water down below. Wherever there was water, there were plants drying to suck it right up. Judy considered examining one of the roots when she heard a stark noise;
Flump!
The noise sounded almost as though someone had tripped and fallen down hard onto the floor. She glanced at Nick, but he was standing up straight. Another noise followed;
"Bugger! Slippery!"
Something about the voice set Judy off. It sounded distinctly accented: Outback-Island style. A small part of the rabbit hoped it to be a tourist, but since Chief Urzo had alerted the tourism department to restrict public access to The Painted Labyrinth while the ZPD conducted their raid there that day, Judy knew deep down that whoever was behind the voice had to have been a marsupial. Judging by the sound of multiple footsteps and the wheezing chorus of laughter that erupted after the clumsy mammal had slipped in the first place, it was also quite safe to assume that there were multiple marsupials rather than just a single one. They must have been a scouting party on the watch, or something.
Gesturing quickly towards Nick in an effort to alert him to pull out his tranquilizer gun, Judy only had enough time to register the apparent sound of fast, surprised gasps as she turned around and came face to face with a small pack of at least five different mammals. There was a fat little wombat in a sweatshirt, and a tan-colored hound that appeared to be a female dingo, thin and predatory, ready to pounce at any moment. There was a tiny bandicoot brandishing a tiny knife, another dingo, this one being male, and at the very front and foremost of the group of five mammals, a towering, six foot tall male kangaroo with large muscles and a torn up cargo vest wrapped around his broad shoulders.
The kangaroo grinned. "Lookie what we 'ave 'ere." He muttered smugly.
"Fresh meat!" The female dingo growled hungrily, causing Judy to stifle a slight gasp of fear.
Steeling her nerves, the rabbit officer whirled her tranquilizer gun directly towards the pack of criminals, causing them to laugh amongst themselves.
"You can only fire one a' those at a time, missy." The bandicoot exclaimed in a high-pitched and squeaky voice. "It's four against one, and the odds don't look so favorable for ya."
"Actually, it's four against two." A voice behind Judy called out to the pack of mammals proudly. The bunny spared a brief glance behind her as Nick waltzed up with his dart gun.
"Nick Wilde." The kangaroo mumbled flatly.
"Ramic..." The fox officer managed carefully. "It's been a while."
"Aye, it has. When I first saw ya at that warehouse in Beaverdam, I couldn't believe me own two bloody eyes. You shouldn't 'ave come here, though." Ramic claimed.
"Sorry old pal, but Carrots and I have a job to do, and that's bringing in guys like you. We may have once been partners, but that was years ago, and I'm a changed fox."
The kangaroo sneered. "Is that so? I guess that'll only make this shindig 'ere all the better." He stated, taking a small step forward.
"Buddy, I'd hate to dart you over this." Nick claimed, raising his tranquilizer gun slightly. "Don't do anything stupid."
Ramic chuckled lowly to himself.
"Don't worry mate, I'm no drongo. I won't do anything stupid." He then gestured to the behind of Nick and Judy. "That's his job."
Nick felt his heart skip a beat as he slowly turned around.
"Wha-?"
There was no one there. Just empty blackness.
"Now!" Ramic shouted, signaling his associates to attack.
The fox mentally cursed himself. He had fallen for the oldest trick in the book.
Facing the pack of criminals as fast as he could, Nick knew that if he could take down Ramic, the largest and strongest one of them all, then he and Judy would have a much easier time taking down the rest. The fox officer aimed his tranquilizer gun towards his old partner and fired as fast as he could, though in the moment of action, he slipped on the slick cavern floor and promptly fell on his tail, causing his wrist to veer off from his target and the dart to sail right past Ramic, and end up sticking the bandicoot instead, which wearily fell to the ground and began to snore. Due to the bandicoot's overall size compared to the dart, Nick was worried that he might've accidentally killed it, but before he could think or worry any more about it, one of Ramic's fists came sailing past his head, narrowly missing the fox's cheek as it brushed past the russet colored fur on his jaw.
Nick cried out in surprise, and then scampered backwards in an effort to distance himself from his assailant as fast as he could.
Alternatively, Judy had managed to fire off a single dart of her own, which landed expertly on one of the male dingo's biceps. He promptly collapsed, nearly landing on top of the bandicoot that Nick wound up darting, albeit unintentionally, just mere seconds earlier. With Nick busy trying to scramble away from Ramic, whom continuously tried stomping on him with his considerably large feet, Judy was left to deal with both the wombat and the female dingo, the latter of which rushed her with bared teeth and raised sharp claws.
Back at the Zootopia Police Academy, the rabbit officer, then just a humble recruit, had been taught how to fight with tranquilizer guns, both while they were fully loaded and unloaded. She recalled being instructed to use the dart gun as a melee weapon, if you were being rushed by an assailant, yet didn't have enough time to reload and fire a dart.
Right now, Judy had only seconds to react to the dingo's razor claws and foaming maw.
Shifting her feet into a strong defensive position, the bunny braced for impact as she raised her arm and swung the barrel of the tranquilizer gun towards the canine, striking the creature across the muzzle and causing it to stumble and fall over. She hoped that it had been knocked out, but didn't hope for very long, as the wombat jumped right over the dingo's body and tackled Judy to the ground. The rabbit growled in discomfort as the fat wombat used his weight to try and pin her down. He grabbed her wrists and tried holding her arms away from his face, and although it looked as if the wombat was about to try and headbutt her, she finally managed to throw him off with the force of her powerful legs.
Getting to her feet as fast as she could, Judy spared a lightning-quick glance around the fight between Nick and Ramic, the former of which had thankfully managed to get back up on his feet and begin trying to hit the kangaroo with his empty tranquilizer gun, but due to the creature's great size and strength, he might as well have been trying to take down a brick wall. The bunny had no more time to admire their tussle, as she turned her attention towards her own tranquilizer gun, which had been tossed from her paw when the wombat had tackled her to the floor. She spotted the object lying still on the cave ground just a few short feet away, empty, perhaps, but still a useful tool to work alongside.
Stumbling towards it as fast as she could, Judy was just about to grab the thing when she felt a tug on her leg, causing her to fall over and back to the floor. She stared back and saw that the wombat had somehow grabbed a hold of her ankle, resulting in her balance being effected. The rabbit momentarily tried pulling her leg away, but then realized that she was in the perfect position to kick him in the face. She did exactly that. Raising her other leg up and aiming it with precision in mind, Judy plowed her heel directly into the wombat's flabby face, promptly releasing his hold on her foot and causing him to be thrown back and into the nearby stream, his heavy body splashing loudly against the water.
Judy was about to congratulate herself when that dingo that she had slapped across the face from earlier pounced right on top of her. Being larger and much stronger, she was able to effectively pin the rabbit down without much of a struggle. Smiling and licking her sharp teeth, the dingo snickered to herself as she stared down at a now helpless Judy.
"Not so tough now are ya, sheila?" The dingo hissed into her ear.
As the female dingo's disgusting slobber dripped down onto her twitching face, Judy spared a glance at her foxy partner across the cave, who appeared to be fighting in attrition.
Ramic yelled as he threw another hard punch towards Nick, whom, being the faster and more agile of the two mammals, simply turned to the side and avoided its coming path. However, the action was just enough a challenge to keep the fox from being able to reload his tranquilizer gun with another dart, and even then, shooting his towering kangaroo opponent at such a close range would have been a rather difficult ask to accomplish. The two fighting mammals were now just trying to finish the other off without any trouble.
While they battled, the kangaroo mostly kept his arms close to his torso to protect from strikes, and relied on his legs to try and take out Nick; Kicking at him, trying to stomp on him, or toss him to the side. Judy recalled how in Beaverdam, when she and Nick were discussing the latter's past relationship with Ramic, how the fox had referred to the male kangaroo as an 'expert kick-boxer', and how his apparent street name was 'The Basher'. Witnessing the two mammals locked in combat, the rabbit now finally understood the meaning and weight of those words. Knowing that Ramic had a strong kick only made it all the more painful when he finally managed to land one on Nick, causing him to gag.
"Nick!" Judy called out to him, only for the dingo above her to snarl, demanding her attention, but not receiving any shred of it.
The kangaroo had managed to nail a calf-kick directly behind Nick's legs, causing him to be swept off balance and fall flat on his back. Ramic raised one of his large, thick feet before proceeding to stomp down hard on the fox's stomach, not hard enough to completely disembowel him, as Judy was quite sure that Ramic was quite capable of, but hard enough to cause Nick to jack-knife up and let out a horribly guttural coughing noise. That was definitely going to hurt in the morning. Judy cringed at the sight of the big strike.
Bearing an expression of both frustration and disappointment, Ramic then promptly kicked Nick in the side of his body as if the kangaroo were punting a soccer ball across a field. The fox grunted in pain as he was sent flying across the cave from the force of the strike. His body was stopped as his back collided with the wall of the lava tube, and he then landed in the stream with a splash, and began to sink without a sound. A flurry of bubbles rose up from his body as he started to lose air and steep ever lower into the water.
Judy felt a sudden rage build up within her, and using the power given to her by a brief shot of adrenaline rushing through her veins, the rabbit managed to throw the snarling dingo from her body, and then dove head first into the water and after Nick, hoping that the slight acidic nature of the stream, which in of itself was surprisingly deep, wasn't too much to handle. She grabbed hold of the fox's body, and using all of her might, pulled him up and to the surface, helping him out of the water as he flopped tiredly onto dry land.
Nick coughed a few times before wearily turning around and helping to pull Judy herself out of the acidic mixture and onto the smooth rocky shore. Together, they both glanced up at Ramic, whom leaned forward and jabbed his palms against their chests, pinning the two officers to the ground. The marsupials had won, and Nick and Judy had lost. Badly.
Their radios were cut, their bodies were tied together in ropes, and the two tiny officers were then slung over Ramic's broad shoulder, the other being occupied by the male dingo that Judy had managed to knock out with a single tranquilizer dart earlier on in the fight. Sure enough, the canine was still snoring sound asleep. Ramic checked on the others.
"You alright there, mate?" Ramic asked the bandicoot as he prodded it with one of his feet. It was still lying motionless on the ground from Nick's rouge dart.
"Bloody dart nicked me in the shoulder; Hurts like 'ell, but I'll be fine." The bandicoot claimed, his mouth being the only part of him that could still move properly, apparently.
"She'll be right." That portly wombat added. "Now let's get these dipsticks back to camp!" He exclaimed, pointing towards Nick and Judy as he picked up the bandicoot.
For nearly forty more minutes, the marsupials carried the two captured officers ever deeper into the depths of The Painted Labyrinth. Judy desperately wanted to make a call for help, but since her arms were tied against her sides, and her radio was cut, all she could do was sit back and think, patiently awaiting the fate of whatever these hooligans had planned for she and her husband, Nick. At the thought of the fox, Judy tried craning her head around so as to get a glance at him. Aside from the rigid feeling of his back pressed against her own due to the way that they were bundled up together, the rabbit had no idea what Nick was thinking of, feeling, or acting out. All that she could do was sit back.
Judy absolutely hated sitting back.
Eventually, with her large and sensitive ears tuned in to the world around her, Judy begun to hear soft, clattering, and jarring noises from somewhere deeper within the depths of the caves. Conversation of mammals, the whirring of machinery, and the crackling sound of stone being crushed and blown away. She reasoned that they were very close to where Iluka Rombahe and the marsupials had set up camp here in the cave system, far away from the light of the surface. Soon, the group reached the very end of the tunnel.
Rearing the corner of the lava tube's end, Ramic and the other marsupials pulled a tied up Nick and Judy into the base of a massive cavern, some one hundred feet tall and wide.
Fluorescent search lights and floor lamps have been set up, illuminating the dig site and all of the twisted machinery within it. Rows of grungy tents flanked the outskirts of the cavern, and the largest wall of rock was bordered with digging equipment and even entire cratefuls of dynamite. Broken chunks of stone and dried lava had been blown all over the place, with stalactites that had fallen from the cavern ceiling crushed on the hard rock ground, massive, snaking cracks webbing throughout the area like capillaries, and a thick sulfuric scent lingering in the air, filling the noses of the two tiny officers as they were carried, bound in ropes, by the kangaroo deeper into the heart of the excavation site.
Once Ramic had hauled the bunny and fox to the very center of the tent complex, it was only then that Nick himself noticed the center of attention; A brooding tasmanian-devil, standing over a work table inside one of the larger-sized tents. He had an orange-ish brown safari suit cloaking the charcoal black fur on his body, and sticking out from beneath the yellow construction hat on his head were a multitude of beaded strings, clattering about as their host moved his head while looking over the papers lain on the table. Iluka.
Somewhere from the behind of them, one of the other marsupials that had assisted in Nick and Judy's capture called out to Iluka, whom turned tail and stared them all down.
"Boss! We just 'ad a tussle wit' the coppers! They made it into the tunnels! The ZPD is here in the caves-"
"WHAT!?" Iluka roared aloud, clenching his meaty fists and glaring to the cavern ceiling with rage.
The tasmanian devil harshly choked back another scream of anger. "I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm cool... I'm fine." He muttered quickly, running his claws through the fur on his head.
As the devil's whittled claws anxiously raked across his scalp, the stringed beads that were tied up in his scruffy hair rattled audibly, like wooden wind chimes in a soft breeze. Exhaling a rather drawn-out sigh of relief, he then stepped forward with his paws on his hips and surveyed the sight before him. He pursed his lips in frustration and asked;
"So the ZPD is here, in the Painted Labyrinth... Right now?"
Iluka's words were incredibly calm, yet radiated pure rage and fear with each syllable. The fat wombat swallowed nervously, and then managed to stammer a decent response.
"Yes, well, no, but... Okay, let me start over." He said before clearing his throat. "The ZPD made it into the Painted Labyrinth-"
The wombat timidly trailed off as he noticed his boss's expression harden in anger.
"B-But we stopped them! Well, we stopped them u-unintentionally, but we still stopped them! The last dynamite explosion caused the lava tube that they were in to collapse!"
"Yeah, and we managed to bag these two in the aftermath." Ramic stated gruffly as he slung the lapin and vulpine around and dropped them to the ground at Iluka's feet.
Nick and Judy both grunted in discomfort as their bodies hit the cave floor, with Judy facing Iluka, and Nick facing Ramic. Coughing a few times, the rabbit then glanced up and locked eyes with Iluka Rombahe, whom in turn was staring down at her with an expression of bewilderment. His facial features soon warped into those of confidence and pride.
"My, my... Here I thought I left all of my troubles behind in Beaverdam." Iluka muttered. "I am surprised! I didn't expect to see you two again, and certainly not so soon!"
Judy narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "You recognize us?" She questioned out loud, to which the tasmanian-devil snorted in amusement. He exclaimed loudly;
"Recognize you? Of course! You're the same two blue heelers from the warehouse! Besides, I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who wouldn't recognize the famous duo; Officers Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde, the heroes of the ZPD, saviors of the city, and first openly inter-species couple in a position of power. I know all too well who you are, but what I don't know, is what you're doing here: Aren't you two supposed to be somewhere in Precinct One, off protecting Zootopia, and making the world a better place, hm?"
For some odd reason, hearing the same phrase that Judy had stated proudly on TV so many times in the past coming from Iluka Rombahe himself made her feel sick to her stomach. It was as though someone had taken something cherished to her and warped it in a sarcastic and humiliating way. His words bit with contempt and a condescending tone, but the bunny refused to allow herself to give in to the tasmanian-devil: She had no intention on being seen as a weak, frightened little rabbit. Not here. Not anywhere.
Meanwhile, Nick, although his body was facing away from Iluka due to the positioning of the ropes that held him against his mate, craned his head over his shoulder and tried to spare a brief glance at his captor. The fox eyed the tasmanian-devil up and down, taking note of his rugged appearance, scruffy black hair braided with dozens of little wooden beads, and wild orange eyes that shined bright in the inky atmosphere of the cavern. Recalling choice bits of information from the Precinct Seven archives, where he had read up on Iluka's background history and external personality, Nick figured that the tasmanian-devil was a pretty reasonable fellow, so long as he didn't get mad. The fox grinned coyly.
Nick reasoned that since both he and Iluka had a history of cons and criminal ties (Even if his own were considerably less prolific), that he might be able to talk his way to safety.
"What we're doing here, huh? Long story short; There was this nasty rat, some important documents, and a few desperate measures, all mixed together into one big cluster-"
"Rat?" Iluka interjected, promptly cutting off the fox. "You mean Grygorri? Ah, I see what's goin' on here... You two must've fallen into one of his silly lil' traps, aye?"
"Let's just say that desperate times called for desperate measures." Nick stated flatly.
"Nick, why are you talking to him?" Judy hissed in question as quietly as she could. In response, he simply gave her paw a reassuring squeeze; A gesture requesting for trust.
Over on, the tasmanian-devil continued speaking. "So that's why you're here, then. Sounds like fair dinkum to me." He grunted. "Can't say that I was a big fan a' Grygorri..."
Iluka trailed off before gesturing with his paws to a nearby computer system that had been set up atop a small wooden table. On it, a tiny black flash-drive stuck out prominently.
"But he did leave us some leads to follow." Iluka finalized.
The fox thought quickly, thinking back to the old broken piece of wood that he had spotted on the way through the lava tubes. Definitely Ratsputin's cane, but why was it even broken? What purpose did Iluka have with it? He had too many questions and too little answers. If he was going to stall for time to allow the ZPD to rescue he and Judy, then he needed a steady, strong barrage of insightful questions not only to keep the marsupial thugs busy, but to perhaps even gain some helpful intelligence to help their cause as well.
"Say, that reminds me... What are you doing here in the Deciduous-District anyways?" He questioned calmly, all the while giving his mate's paw another soft squeeze.
Though Nick had long since reasoned out the answer to that particular question, he only asked Iluka himself because he wanted to hear the words come right out of his mouth.
"Good question, mate. Most mammals only care about the haves and have-dones, and less about the reason why, so good on ya fer being considerate."
"Ah, why thank you. Just being curious, that's all." Nick claimed, to which the tasmanian-devil snorted in amusement.
"I probably shouldn't be tellin' ya any of this, but since I'm not the one hog-tied in the dirt, and since ya asked so nicely, I s'pose I can spare some details. Consider it chivalry."
The fox nodded, hoping for the tasmanian-devil to go on. Iluka sighed and wrung his claws together almost anxiously before starting;
"Well, you see, though the Outback's got plenty of knick-knacks for my gang to accustom with, the island's been runnin' a wee bit dry, in recent years. It's been harder to find valuable artifacts; Almost everything that's reachable has been recovered by now, and whether they're in museums, households, or bank vaults, there's only so many relics to go around. But, the mainland is a whole new territory, with entirely new markets to exploit! With our expertise and resources, my mates and I can make great things happen!"
"I see... So you're trying to expand your reach of power and influence, right?" Nick interjected in question. The tasmanian-devil grinned wide before continuing;
"Aye. There are plenty of ancient mammalian cultures throughout the mainland to delve into: The Catztec ruins in the Rainforest-District, desert tombs in the Sahara-Square, yet of all the places to choose from, we singled out the Deciduous-District, because here, there is said to be an artifact of legendary worth... An age-old relic infamous for being the subject of many searches, but never having been found before. Elkscalibur, The Sword of Kings, a weapon once brandished by the great Elktic king, Alastrine Brockernos."
"Yeah, we've heard that story before." The fox stated with a single nod. "You remember it, Carrots?"
"I can't believe that we're having this conversation right now." Judy grumbled.
The tasmanian-devil simply smiled, ignoring Judy's previous comment.
"According to Elktic scripture, the sword was buried with Alastrine after his death, and sealed within a tomb somewhere underground. We intend on finding that tomb!" He said.
"You're telling me that you're practically destroying the whole foundation of the Deciduous-District just for one stupid sword?" Judy questioned skeptically, and with frustration.
"It's a sacrifice we're willing to make. The value of these filthy caves is, quite literally, below dirt: Paltry compared to what we could find in that tomb."
"Still seems like a whole lot of trouble." The rabbit muttered. She took note of Iluka's disgruntled expression as he rubbed the back of his neck tenderly.
"Well, there's a bit more to it than that, I suppose... The sword has value, yes, but I also want it for some personal reasons as well."
"Personal reasons?"
Iluka didn't bother answering right away. Judy figured that it must have been a subject that he didn't like to talk about very much. He soon found his words, and spoke out loud;
"Back before I was arrested, the archaeological world looked to me with admiration and hope. I was a museum curator, and a renowned cultural and historical enthusiast. That all changed when the ZPD brought me in, and threw me behind bars to rot for nearly three years before I made my escape. During that time, I was stripped of all of my awards, archaeological titles, and contributions, and was shunned for my ulterior work as the crime-lord of Outback-Island, which I had been posing as behind curtains the entire time."
"That sounds like something that you brought upon yourself, Iluka." Judy stated sternly. "It's only because of yourself that you were arrested and served strict justice."
Although he took in the bunny's words, the tasmanian-devil pretended to ignore them. He continued his explanation;
"With Elkscalibur in my paws, I can finally prove to all of those tossers just how great of an archaeologist I am! Rubbing my discovery in their faces is a real ripper thought."
"But you could go to jail for this! It all will have been for nothing! You couldn't have just stuck with what you had and lain low?" Judy asked.
"I could have done that, true, but I'm an opportunist, and this whole pozzy was too good to let slip. Besides, I got associates to pay and demands to meet, and although tricking university students and other treasure hunters to pay to dig on my land is a good income, it just can't keep with the times. The cons are fun, but not worth pursuing too hasty."
"Cons? Interesting!" Nick exclaimed. "I used to be a hustler myself, you know."
"So I've heard. That pawpsicle scam? Bloody genius!"
The fox actually felt a bit flattered. No one had ever cherished the wit that he had used in his scams before. "Oh, you're too kind." He swooned with a half-lidded grin.
"Just statin' the truth there. You got a gift for riffin'. I, on the other paw, could use some bettering... Probably wouldn't have wound up in jail if I had your assistance!"
"Guilty as charged." Nick said coyly, causing the tasmanian-devil to bark a laugh.
"If only we had you on our side, mate. You'd be a real help. Maybe we'd even be able to use that night vision of yours to scout out stuff for us in the Nocturnal-District!"
"Heh heh, yeah, that might be fun." Nick started, still chuckling from earlier. "Hey, hey, Iluka, while on the topic of evolutionary traits, I've been wondering for a while now..."
The crime-lord raised an eyebrow in curiosity.
"Is it true that tasmanian-devils can turn into tiny tornadoes? I mean, I've heard stories and seen a few movies where-"
Nick trailed off when he noticed that Iluka's smiling expression had melted into that of stone-cold disapproval.
"Zero to pissed in a moment, my goodness, you have talent." He snarled menacingly.
Nick swallowed nervously. Mentally, he cursed himself for being so vocally reckless: Iluka wasn't his friend, and he couldn't joke around with him so casually. Perhaps he had just subconsciously been hoping to appeal to the tasmanian-devil's more humorous and friendly side in order to help ensure he and Judy's safety, but in the end, it seemed that he had overstepped the line, and only served to anger Iluka. The fox made himself a mental note to always try to stay on the good side of tasmanian-devils, no matter the cause.
Meanwhile, Judy watched as the tasmanian-devil reached into his safari suit and pulled out a brightly painted boomerang. At first, she was worried that he was going to knock them out with it, but suddenly, a thought pierced her conscious, and she simply couldn't prevent herself from blurting out her coming words, only hoping that they stood strong;
"Is that the weapon you used to kill that night watchman at the museum?"
Iluka raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you mean this?" He mumbled innocently, tossing the item into the air a single time before catching it once again. "Unfortunate casualty."
"Why? Why did you kill him?" Judy demanded to know. "You couldn't have just, I don't know, tied him up, or something?"
To the rabbit officer herself, when it came to killing, she had always a bit on the more sensitive side. Of all the things the world had to offer to despite, killing was perhaps one of Judy's most touchy and rather uncomfortable subjects. She did not like the idea of intentionally taking the life of another mammal. She considered it wrong, despicable, and a truly terrible waste. Judy found herself furrowing her brow in frustration as she glared up at the tasmanian-devil standing before her. The rabbit watched as he crossed his arms.
"He ran away. Managed to slip out of the museum and make a break for it." Iluka claimed. "Bloke would 'ave tattled to the bobbies about us, and we couldn't let that happen."
"That's not right... You shouldn't have done that! Once Nick and I are free, and the ZPD puts your tail in jail, you'll be sorry!" Judy stated firmly and with a strong sense of valor.
The tasmanian-devil smiled, almost as though he were proud of her. "You got spunk, rabbit." He said. "I like that."
"Hmph!" Judy huffed, turning her head away from her captor, refusing to look him in the eye.
Snorting slightly in amusement, Iluka proceeded to wipe his forearm against his mouth swiftly before turning to Nick with a glint of disappoint in his eye.
"And as for you, though..." He started sternly. "All I see is wasted potential."
"W-What? Wasted potential?" The fox stammered.
"You don't swing it like you used to, fox." Iluka growled, all the while twirling the painted boomerang around his whittled claws. "You've moved on to the side of the angels."
He promptly sighed, as if he were disappointed in Nick.
"A croakin' shame, that is. Your street knowledge and quick wit coulda made you a helpful member of our syndicate." The tasmanian-devil shrugged. "Tough luck on ya, foxy."
"We may be on the side of the angels, but don't mistake us for one of them, though, buddy! Once Hopps and I get out of here, you're gonna wish that you-"
Nick started vehemently, but was swiftly cut off by his marsupial captor, whom sardonically finished the fox's sentence on his own;
"Never broke out of jail in the first place, I take it? Typical. You're as thick-headed as a boab tree, yet as easy to see through as water."
"Well, actually, I was gonna say never set foot in the Deciduous-District, but that's a close second." The fox corrected, causing the tasmanian-devil to sigh, clearly unimpressed.
"Crikey, how did Vladzotz have so much trouble killing you?" He growled, pinching at his brow irritably.
"I am very stubborn." Nick retorted flatly.
Iluka sneered. "Clearly." He growled.
The tasmanian-devil then turned around and faced the nearby cavern wall where a number of the other marsupials were still digging and drilling against the hard rock surface.
"Enough of this earbashing. It was a pleasure meeting the both of you in the flesh, officers, though I have a feeling that the next time we meet..."
He trailed off as he glanced over his broad collarbone and eyed his captives with a hardened expression upon his face. He continued darkly;
"I'll be cataloging your parched bones into my curatory collection. Ramic, take them away; Far away, into the caverns, and finish them off. Use your knife."
Judy's ears suddenly straightened out with alarm. "N-Now hang on, don't be doing anything that you'll regret! Killing police officers is a high offense!" She called out hastily.
"Yeah, let's reconsider this!" Nick stammered aloud, visibly starting to tense up in fear as well. "M-Maybe we can talk things out over a pint?" He offered half-heartedly.
Alas, their pleading words were met with deaf ears, for the tasmanian-devil kept his back to the two officers, ignoring their cries as the nearby kangaroo picked up the end of a loose rope connected to the bundle that held Nick and Judy tightly together, and begun to drag them off and away from the ring of tents, towards one of the cavern openings that connected the dig site to the rest of the cave system. Practically face down in the dirt, the rope-bound fox squirmed around, hoping to get some leverage for an escape, but was ultimately left disappointed, as the coils that restricted him were simply too tight. Nick mentally cursed himself before calming down and trying to think of an easy way out.
Meanwhile, although facing up towards the cavern ceiling, Judy herself was able to acquire a considerably decent view of the excavation site, and managed to spot Iluka through the crowding conglomeration of tents, machinery, and marsupials milling about. She watched the tasmanian-devil carefully as a thin dingo approached him and began to speak;
"Boss, one of the motion sensors that we placed at the various entrances to the labyrinth has gone off: It says a large group of mammals has suddenly entered. It's the ZPD."
Judy felt her tiny heart race in anticipation. The ZPD was trying to find another way into the labyrinth to save them! The rabbit desperately hoped that they could manage to find their way through the tunnels and reach them in time, though with the little resources that the raid team had with them, even she doubted the efficiency of that hope. As her mind raced, weighing the possibilities, her sensitive ears listened closely and wandering eyes watched carefully upon the conversation between Iluka Rombahe and the dingo strategist, curiosity pestering her motives. The tasmanian-devil growled angrily, causing the dingo beside him to flinch, despite being over a foot taller than his superior.
"Must be tryin' to recover the two blokes that Ramic and his scouts bagged earlier." He guessed. Despite being a good fifty feet away, Judy heard them loud and clear.
"Aye." The dingo agreed. "The precautions that we set up should slow them down right good, but I reckon that they'll find us in a matter of a few hours."
Iluka grit his jaw irritably. "Do you think that we have enough time to finish the excavation?" He asked hopefully with a tone of menace to his words. The dingo then spoke fast;
"Well, we aren't so sure if the tomb is even located in this sector of the cave system, sir; For all we know, it could be on the complete other side of the map! The data that we've extracted from the flash drive is mostly just info based on speculation, and we've placed all of our bets on the premise that the tomb is hidden right behind that big wall of rock!"
The dingo emphasized his point with a gesture towards the massive wall of stone to his right. He continued hastily;
"Our sources are reliable, but we can't be sure. The men are already beginning to tire, and if they find out that whatever's behind that rock wall isn't what we're looking for, then it could spell trouble. A lot is at risk here, especially with the current situation: The cave wall is beginning to crack, but we still have a ways to go, and it could take a fair while."
Judy watched in both fascination and angst as Iluka's paws clenched into tight balls, and his expression harden by the second. She sensed an outburst on its way, and would have tried to cover her ears, were it not for the ropes that kept her arms bound tightly to her sides. The tasmanian-devil proved her right with a sudden bellow of raging anger.
"There's no time!" Iluka roared, flailing his balled fists in the air. "The Painted Labyrinth is insanely huge, and yet all of our resources are limited to this bloody snot of a cave!"
"Sir, we-" The dingo tried to interject, but Iluka was on a roll;
"The ZPD is likely on its way here right now! If we don't get this ball rolling, then the only place we'll be trying to dig out of is a cell-block at the county prison! Now go, go go!"
Nodding his head shakily in agreement, the dingo then turned tail and rushed off towards the nearby wall of rock, stumbling over his own two feet a few times along the way. Judy witnessed a number of boxes being broken open, and had to withhold a gasp as even more handfuls of dynamite were taken out and set up around the perimeter of the wall. It was clear that with their work being on the clock and the ZPD approaching closer with each passing minute, the marsupials were getting desperate to finish their job. So desperate, in fact, that they would result to using even more explosives to try and break through that towering wall of bedrock, even if it meant a great risk to their own safety.
The bunny wasn't sure what to think. With cracks, sinkholes, and tremors being experienced on the surface, just how much more damage could this ancient cavern take?
She didn't know the answer. The path of destruction that Iluka and his cronies had carved into The Painted Labyrinth was already telling enough on its own, but if they were all truly desperate enough to blow this place to bits just for the sake of finding some old tomb, then whatever was inside of it must have been a trove of true value and wealth. A grunt of discomfort pierced her ears, derailed her train of thought, and earned her sudden attention: Nick, whom had the short end of the stick since he was the one face down in the dirt while being dragged, had gagged aloud and proceeded to spit out a small mouthful of soil. His tongue and lips made smacking noises as he tried to clean out his maw.
"Yuck! Ugh, this couldn't be any worse." He grumbled.
Suddenly, the texture of the ground beneath their twin bodies began to change, and Judy noticed that the surface of the cavern floor began to become more rocky and pointed. Staring up at the ceiling, which was now just a few yards above her instead of a few dozen yards, she reasoned that their kangaroo captor must have finally brought them to the mouth of one of the many lava tubes that stemmed from the excavation site. Now, it was only her, Nick, and Ramic, as he dragged the former two behind him and into the ever darkening depths of the cave before them all. He flipped on a flashlight, and being as deep underground as they were, Judy wondered if it would be the last light she ever saw.
Hey Everyone!
At long last, the latest chapter of WIF has arrived! I certainly hope that you all enjoyed it, but regardless, I thank you all for reading it nonetheless. Next up, you can expect the coming chapter (86) to be the last chapter of the 6th arc! That's right! It's been a great run so far, but I'm proud to announce that this latest story arc of ours is coming to a close. The up and coming 7th story arc finale is looking to be a pretty long chapter, so I hope you are all ready for it!
I do indeed have plans for the 7th arc of this story, and I think many of you will be pleased to know that I do have big plans coming down the road, including tons more adventure, action, crime, and even some more romance, too. Stay tuned for all the good stuff, everyone, and you won't be disappointed, I'm sure.
Until then, you can expect plenty of new content far and wide, including more fan-art that I've recently posted to my Tumblr and Devientart accounts. You're more than welcome to check those out if you'd like to see various fan interpretations of scenes, characters, and setting that appear throughout this story of ours. That being said, if you are thinking of contributing your own art (I welcome all benefactions) to the art collective, I am open for contact here on .
A special thanks to all who read, review, follow, and favorite this story. We've just recently reached a new big milestone, and I can't wait to see the next! If you haven't already, do feel free to favorite and/or follow this story, as each and every individual one is very highly appreciated. Thank you all for your time.
For all the reviewers out there, what did you enjoy about this chapter? What did you think of the action sequences, the vivid descriptions of the scenery and setting, and Nick and Judy's talk with Iluka Rombahe? What do you think about what's been happening, and what's going to happen in the coming chapters?
I would very much indeed like to know your personal thoughts. :)
Whatever the case, that's pretty much all I got to say for now, really. Thanks for reading, and do stay tuned for the next chapter, coming your way soon.
'Till next time...
Peace!