Got another quick music suggestion to pair along with the second scene of this chapter, taking place over in the Nocturnal-District, for those interested.
Call of Duty Black Ops 2 - Hidden (Soundtrack OST)
A very fitting addition to a very tense and atmospheric setting. Feel free to check it out, if you'd like. Without any further ado, let's jump right into this.
Enjoy...
"To each their own." - Cicero
1:00 P.M
Three days after the lesson on the various district crime-lords at the Zootopia Police Academy, Nick and Judy still had much to teach to their temporary subordinates.
In the present, the lapin and vulpine officers watched over the class of recruits as they enjoyed their one-hour lunch at the academy's mess-hall. It was a noisy affair, with lots of bragging and arm-wrestling matches across the board. The two officers even had to work together to quell the beginnings of what could have turned into a nasty food fight. Major Friedkin managed to put a stop to that quickly enough, though, threatening any potential would-be food-fight initiator with the punishment of severe bodily harm.
Despite all the hard work that they had been putting in over the past month or so, it was clear that many of the cadets still needed some lessons on proper dining etiquette.
All the while, Nick kept a close watch on two mammals in particular: Harlan O'Conall, and Mary Ewever. He had noticed that both wolf and sheep alike had begun to sit with one another during lunch, and spend their free time studying for police policy exams and even practicing sparring lessons together, too. It seemed that Harlan had taken the little sheep under his wing, and took Nick's advice on giving her self-defense lessons in exchange for help with studying and other academic-related activities. Wherever Nick saw one, he also saw the other. They seemed a good match for eachother, as Judy had once mentioned to him, with each mammal playing off the weak points of the other.
Nick was quite pleased with himself, in having managed to convince the pair to give eachother a shot. Seeing them working together so well only made him feel even more confident about his social skills. Harlan had been a bit of a tough nut to crack, at first, but once he had opened up to Nick, the fox had all that he needed to know how to convince his wolfish counterpart to stick up for his fellow academy recruits. It was nice to see that all of the mammals involved left the situation with beneficial outcomes.
Sparing a glance over at Major Friedkin, who stood beside him to his left, an idea suddenly came to him. The fox then singled out Judy herself from across the open space of the mess-hall, helping a piggish recruit pick up the contents of a lunch tray that he had accidentally knocked over onto the floor. He smiled slyly to himself, recognizing an opportunity for even more benefits to both he and Judy, and Harlan and Mary, as well. Besides, Nick had figured that he'd spent enough time watching the recruits, and not enough actually conversing with them. He had learned a lot about Harlan, but had never truly gotten to sit down and meet Mary, yet, and the exact opposite applied for Judy.
Guess there was never a better time to idly chat with another mammal than over a meal.
Nick turned towards his superior. "Do you think that Hopps and I could take a quick seat with a few of the cadets, if that's alright?" He asked her nonchalantly.
The polar bear stared down at the smaller fox from beneath the brim of her baseball cap.
"Sure, knock yourselves out." She grumbled. "We still have thirty minutes left to burn, anyways."
"Alright, thanks Major. I love ya, I owe ya!" He stated, shooting her a few exaggerated finger guns before making his way towards Judy.
Rolling her eyes, though not without a slight grin of amusement, Major Friedkin simply turned her attention towards the other recruits, intent on sniffing out any potential troublemakers. The fox himself continued his short journey, that was, until he finally reached Judy, who was still helping to pick up after the pig cadet's unintended mishap.
Nick leaned down and plucked up the last remaining item from the floor - a bright red apple - just as Judy herself was about to pick it up. He let out a brief huff of air from his mouth onto the fruit's hard surface before rubbing it on the shirt of his officer's uniform, effectively cleaning it of whatever it had picked up from its time on the grimy floor. Grinning wide, he offered the apple to Judy, who returned a silent smirk of her own before returning the apple to its previous owner, who then scrambled off to find a new seat.
"Thanks for the help, Slick," Judy started. "But I'm pretty sure you didn't come all the way over here just to help me clean up that guy's mess. What's on your mind?"
The fox couldn't help but chuckle.
"Ah, you know me so well, don't you?" He mused. "Truth is, I thought I might let you know Harlan and Mary over there are lookin' like they could use some company."
"So you want to go talk to them?"
"Something like that, yeah. What do you say?" Nick asked in clarification.
"Sure! It'll be fun." The rabbit exclaimed. "I'm tired of standing around waiting for more food-fights to happen, anyways. Let's do it."
Nodding in agreement, Nick and Judy together then approached the table where the aforementioned wolf and sheep were sitting by themselves, their lunches mostly having been eaten, and their only company being a few small books that Mary must have stacked on the table, likely for further studying purposes. Upon reaching the table, Nick and promptly tapped on its surface in an effort to garner the attentions of the two mammals sitting before it. Both Harlan and Mary looked up from their meals and at the fox.
"Hey there, you two." He began with an easy smile. "Mind if we join ya?"
"Not at all." Mary said. Harlan simply nodded in agreement. He definitely wasn't the wordiest mammal in the world.
At that, Nick and Judy then seated themselves at the table, the both of them occupying one side while their two subordinates occupied the other.
"So, how have you been keeping up with your grades, buddy?" Nick asked the wolf, who raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "I noticed you seem to be studying some more, no?"
Harlan allowed himself a minuscule smile. "More or less. It's not exactly my forte, but if it helps me with those tests you give out, then I can't complain."
"That's good! Putting in the extra effort to achieve something great is what we're all about, here at the ZPD." Judy added.
The bunny then turned towards Mary, across the space of the table between them.
"And what about you?" She asked with a mote of intrigue to her words. "Have your athletic activities with Harlan gotten any easier?"
Mary smiled sheepishly, which must've come easy for her, considering that she was one. "Not really, no. I suppose I am getting the hang of it a bit more, though." She said.
"That counts for something, at least." Nick stated. "I was never the best at that kinda stuff either, but it's definitely good to keep up with."
Judy snickered to herself. "And when was the last time you actually went to the gym?"
"I went there with Harlan no more than three days ago, remember?"
"You just went there to pick him up."
"True, but you gotta be more specific with your words, Carrots." Nick advised. "Someone choosy like me might cherry-pick them."
"Oh, you know what I meant. Dumb fox."
The two officers shared a laugh amongst themselves, with Harlan and Mary watching intently all the while, taking note of their banter and apparent chemistry with eachother.
When they had finally recomposed themselves, the ewe took to expressing her gratitude to her superiors;
"I just want to thank you two for introducing me to Harlan. He's been a real help these past few days, and I bet I'll be whipped up into shape in no time!"
The wolf nodded, and then added his own comment;
"And I wouldn't have been studying these past few days, either, if it wasn't for Mary. Thanks to you, Nick, I was able to get outside my comfort zone."
Both bunny and fox simply smiled at the gratitude bestowed upon them by their two subordinates.
"It's our pleasure." The latter insisted. The former then added;
"Yeah. You two seem to have made some great progress on your own. Just don't forget to keep up with Major Friedkin's lessons, too! You don't want to fall behind on those."
"Officer Hopps here can be pretty tight on the rules, sometimes, huh?" Nick mused, elbowing his partner. "Don't mind her being herself. Though, I do apologize for my wife."
Judy rolled her eyes. "Could you not be so public about that during working hours, Nick?" She requested.
"Aw, and why not?"
"It was hard enough to deal with Chief Bogo when he first found out we were dating... Almost lost our jobs. Can you please at least try to be a bit more professional?"
"Oh, I'm sorry." Nick teased. "Instead of wife, would you prefer special mammal, then, or perhaps significant other?" He quipped, emphasizing with air quotes.
"More like significant annoyance, in your case." Judy grumbled, though not without a slight smile tugging at the edge of her lips.
"Ouch. I'll get you for that."
Mary just blinked as she stared back and forth between her bantering superior officers. "You two are weird." She said flatly.
"I personally prefer the term well-balanced." Nick stated.
Harlan chuckled gruffly. "So how did you two meet, anyways?" He asked with an undertone of curiosity to his words.
Knowing Harlan, Nick figured that he must have been genuinely curious to have bothered asking in the first place.
Both Nick and Judy instantly turned towards one another; locking eyes and seemingly sharing a million thoughts between themselves at once.
"It's a long story." The two of them said in unison.
10:30 P.M ; Later that night...
It felt good to be back in business.
Lucy Sang had never been a fan of spending her idle time waiting for fresh opportunities to come to her. She much preferred seizing them for herself!
Flying high above the Nocturnal-District, she surveyed the land down below: Rocky buildings, shambling factories and mining facilities, and a vast network of flat stone roads twisting in between, connecting them all. It had always been a place of industry and negligence. Above her head was easily a much better sight to behold; the vast cavernous ceiling of the underground district glittered with millions of tiny glow-worms, their soft blue light reflecting across the chunks of assorted crystals embedded throughout the rocky dome, creating a swirling display of color that never failed to shock any visiting surface-dwellers. After all, few would expect a place with a reputation for crime and squalor like the Nocturnal-District to be so surprisingly colorful and vivid. It was nothing that Lucy didn't see on a daily basis, of course, but she couldn't deny it was beautiful.
Beyond that vividness lay much disgust, however. As enticing as the light from the glow-worms were, they themselves produced a constant mess to look after.
Although much of the sticky blue residue that they produced simply clung to the ceiling like vines of slime, vast amounts of it fell to the cavern floor far below, where it quite often needed to be cleaned up before it began to congregate. Much of it was collected in vats used for refining and other oil-based products that could be extracted from the fallen gunk. Because of the value of such a potential market, the facilities that created these products were off-limits to the public, and hidden away behind barbed fences.
To Lucy herself, though, it wasn't a challenge: She could simply fly right over them, and enter the property without so much as a trace to leave behind.
Landing behind the fence, the vampire bat touched down on the rocky floor. Around her, large vats of bubbling blue liquid, glow-worm slime, lay exposed like open pools. Her objective was simple: To collect a sizable batch of the mushrooms that grew around the deposits, place them in the bag that she had brought with her, and transport them all the way to the Rainforest-District as contraband, all without being caught. Easy enough. That jaguar had promised a good reward for completing a mission so simple, and Lucy was more than willing to put in the effort to do what she loved: Stealing things that weren't hers. Although she had been reluctant to engage in this particular mission, at first, her good business partner and mate, Vladzotz Fangpyre, had managed to convince her to give it a shot. He always seemed to know how to get her in a better mood.
Staring over the vast, bubbling vats of glow-worm residue, Lucy reminisced to the first time that she had met Vlad: When she had stolen his silver locket right out from under his nose, and gotten herself chased throughout the Nocturnal-District because of it. She remembered how she had managed to trick her male counterpart into ensnaring himself in the sticky glow-worm vines that hung high above in an effort to put a stop to his pursuit. It had worked magically, with Vladzotz getting himself quite stuck, and thus allowing Lucy to tease him unabated. She had even taken the opportunity to drink some of his own blood, soon after. The female bat snickered to herself. She liked to affectionately refer to that whole altercation as their first date, even if Vlad had been practically trying to kill her, at the time. A good first impression, if there ever was one.
From there, their relationship had blossomed over time, becoming closer and more affectionate, and now, here they both were working alongside one another so often that they practically shared the same roof. Lucy didn't mind, of course: Despite being a free-spirited thief, she enjoyed spending time with him. It made her feel more complete.
Before meeting Vlad, most of her work had been freelance, and of her own accord: Steal a jewel for herself here, gather some scandalous information for an employer there, and so forth. Almost whatever came to her was worth pursuing if it meant acquiring more money, power, or was just plain fun to do. These days, she worked alongside Vlad, which was a much bigger role than just being a professional thief: Working beside a full-fledged crime-lord with their own criminal syndicate was definitely a big step upward.
She may have been a part of his mob, but past it all, Vlad still gave her the freedom to do other things that she loved, such as freelance missions for different employers. Her recent work with Iluka, where she had to burn the ZPD's evidence archive and fetch that old sword before delivering it to him in the Deciduous-District, and now her current mission for Al Catpone, were two good examples. It gave plenty of spice and opportunity to her existence, and being able to share it with Vlad made it all the more enjoyable.
In the now, Lucy realized the potential of getting this job done for Al. She knew firsthand just how much money he had laying around, and if his promise of an additional gift, as Vlad had said, was true, then there was no time to waste! She intended on gathering what she needed and leaving before anyone noticed, and so, began sneaking around.
The vats of glow-worm residue were ringed with bushels of tiny blue mushrooms. They glowed in the darkness of the nocturnal atmosphere ever so slightly - Letting off a weak blue tinge, not too different from the many glow-worms that clung to the cavern ceiling high above. Lucy figured these to be the mushrooms that she was looking for.
Leaning down to pick one up, Lucy's leaf-shaped nose scrunched up in irritation as a smell suddenly hit her. The glow-worm vats themselves didn't exactly have the most enticing aroma, but this new scent was far worse; like a chunk of flesh marinated in a mix of sewage and pepper. She deduced the mushrooms themselves to be the source.
They may have been small, slimy, and blue, just as Vlad had said, but he never mentioned anything about them having such a powerful odor! Lucy made herself a mental note to chew him out later for not warning her beforehand. Quelling the urge to gag, she picked as many mushrooms as she could; creeping around the edges of the nasty glow-worm deposits and selecting several dozen choice toadstools before placing them in her bag. Being as slippery as they were, due to the residue that coated them, the female bat had trouble gripping them, at first, and the build up of not only the weight of the mushrooms, but the slime that coated them as well was starting to make her bag surprisingly heavy. She knew that she could only carry so many before her flying abilities were hampered due to the excess load, and so, made sure to wrap up her errand.
Just as she had finished gathering what she deemed to be the perfect amount of mushrooms, her sensitive ears twitched in detection of someone moving around nearby.
"Hey! Who are you?" A voice suddenly shouted out. "This is a restricted area!"
Whirling around and facing the noise's source, the vampire bat spotted a pair of badgers in police uniforms - likely officers from the Nocturnal-District's Precinct Six - running towards her with flashlights and tranquilizer guns clutched in their big meaty paws. The bright beams emanating from their flashlights were trained on her like dual spotlights.
"Crap!" Lucy hissed to herself.
She then quickly slung the bag of mushrooms over her shoulders before taking to the air. The added weight of the mushroom sack briefly stalled her ascent, but as she beat down her powerful wings over and over again, she quickly managed to gain some considerable altitude over her pursuers. Sparing a brief glance down at the two badger officers, the vampire bat took note of the tranquilizer guns that they were now pointing in her general direction. She knew that just one hit with those would spell her defeat.
"Stop flying!" One of the badger officers yelled.
Flapping around in the air, Lucy began a series of evasive maneuvers just as a pair of feather-tufted darts whizzed directly past her, with one just narrowly missing her upper shoulder. She flied as erratically as she could, if only to lower the chances of getting struck with another dart. As the officers down below reloaded their ammunition, Lucy then focused on putting as much distance as she could between herself and the scene. Besides, now that she had enough mushrooms, she figured that the second part of the plan could begin: Delivering the mushrooms to Al Catpone in the Rainforest-District. She saw another two darts swish past her, but grossly far below their intended target.
The vampire bat allowed herself a triumphant cackle, for she was now out of range of the officer's tranquilizer darts, and virtually home-free, for the most part.
Now, all that was left to do was to drop off her precious cargo at her employer's assigned rendezvous point, which happened to be the jaguar's secret jungle facility. Recalling where the place was located, the vampire bat let out a slight groan of displeasure, remembering that it was all the way out in the very heart of the Rainforest-District, which by wing, was a considerably sizable journey. Lucy just sighed, figuring that such an endeavor would at least prove a decent workout for her. Alongside that, it definitely didn't hurt to get out and stretch her wings, every once and a while. Being a free-spirit of her own accord, such adventures were always a cherished part of the vampire bat's life.
Her and Vlad would even occasionally take casual flights around the city's various districts, just to get out and enjoy themselves. Even criminals had to take it easy, sometimes.
Flying up the long and slanted tunnel that led to the surface-world, Lucy dodged over a few vehicles as they followed the road leading to the depths of the Nocturnal-District, before at last breaking free from the underground and shooting up towards the moonlit sky above. She let loose a cheer of pride in her efforts, stretching out her wings as far as they could reach and then shouting aloud to the starry dome above her head, before swiftly recomposing herself and putting her primary focus on the long journey ahead.
"Alright!" She cheered to herself. "Time for the real fun to begin."
As she recalled, the underground entrance to the Nocturnal-District, which she had just cleared a few seconds earlier, was positioned several short miles from the northern border of the Rainforest-District. Below that and to the south was Savanna-Central, of which she reminded herself to steer clear of, since the officers at Precinct One likely still had a search warrant out for her head because of her arson attack at the ZPD's headquarters. Letting that situation blow over by staying away from the Downtown area for some time was a given. Besides, her current mission only required her to stop by the Rainforest-District, so that was definitely a plus - Although the officers there were competent, the jungle's dense foliage and shady atmosphere would provide plenty of cover for Lucy to go about her mission inconspicuously.
And to Lucy herself, secrecy was a priority. Even though the ZPD knew of her break-in at the archive and her tussle with that rabbit officer in the Deciduous-District, they still didn't know anything about her appearance and routine, which was all that she needed to be able to effectively avoid them. Having the ability to simply fly away from most sticky situations was a huge plus, too. Paired along with her and Vlad's vast underworld resources and connections, there was little chance of her getting captured or cornered by the police anytime soon. That much she had faith in. And so, the female bat felt free to be able to do just about whatever she wanted throughout the city with confidence, even if she did have to remind herself to be more cautious when in public, if only to avoid arousing suspicion. Having a good plan for a potential escape didn't hurt, either.
Nonetheless, Lucy steeled her mind on the task ahead of her, recognizing her latest new mission as her latest new priority.
After about twenty minutes of flying over the rolling grassy cliffs that stretched between the entrance to the Nocturnal-District and the border of the Rainforest-District, Lucy finally managed to reach the district of her intended destination. After crossing over a sizable body of water, and weaving through a perimeter of trees, she at last entered the jungle district. Towering trees of wood and steel reached towards the stars, with the dense, leafy canopies high above concealing the majority of the nighttime sky. Not that Lucy cared, though: It would allow for a much dimmer lighting, and in turn, a more advantageous place of work for herself. Yet still, past the shadows cast from the canopy above, streetlamps and other sources of artificial light were all around; nestled in the nooks of trees, hanging from branches on higher levels above, and standing erect as poles on the forest floor down below. She made herself a habit of avoiding them whenever they obstructed her flight path. She figured it better to be safe than sorry.
Echoing around her in the deeper darkness, Lucy often heard the sharp clicks of other bats - likely fruit-eating species, since they were common in the jungle district - as they went about their own duties at this hour of night. High above her head, she would occasionally see one flap by, but otherwise didn't come into physical contact with any other mammals on her journey. She flew ever deeper into the depths of the jungle, dodging around bundles of vines and sprinklers spewing streams of water to hydrate the copious amounts of vegetation that grow around the towering mammal-made structures. The chirping of insects filled the air, and the sound of nighttime traffic emanated far below.
However, as she gradually closed the distance to her final destination, a new problem began to surface.
Lucy's little excursion with the badger officers from earlier had reminded her just how thirsty she really was. All this flying around didn't exactly help, either. Figuring that she still had some wiggle room in her schedule to fit in a brief drink before delivering her cargo to Al Catpone, the vampire bat dipped her wings down and begun to glide lower and lower through the jungle's misty treetops, eventually flapping just a few dozen feet above the forest floor. She hid her sack of mushrooms in a groove between two thick vine branches about half-way up the length of a tree, intent on coming back for it once she had found a meal. Below, she surveyed the winding black roads that meandered through the massive trees for something to sate her growing thirst. She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth a few times, making use of her echolocation abilities before quickly managing to hone in on a lone target trudging through the foliage down below: A male rat making his way along a small sidewalk that stretched in and around the roots of a nearby banyan tree. The vampire bat moistened her lips in preparation for the coming hunt. Her heart began to beat faster in anticipation.
She then quietly flapped lower to the ground, closing the distance between herself and her target. Her hunting grounds were completely dark, save for the occasional green street-lamp illuminating the area just below it, and the soft glow of the moonlight as it trickled through the foliage in the treetops high above. Aside from herself and the unsuspecting rat, it seemed that no one else was around. Perfect. The only greater thing that Lucy could have wished for was for her prey to be a mouse: They were small enough to drink from without much struggle. Rats were still small, but were much bigger and stronger than any old mouse, and because of that, Lucy often avoided drinking from them. She preferred tinier, weaker rodents to feed off of, that was, whenever she was in the mood for a hunt. She acquired most of her pilfered blood meals from larger mammals that slept in the homes she burglarized, not even noticing as she drank from them. It was how her kind had survived in ancient times. She preferred not to risk seriously injuring a small mammal by taking too much blood, but alas, her thirst was overpowering, and she had no intention on wasting any more time trying to find a different target; Especially not when one was so easily accessible, just waiting to be pounced on from behind.
Besides, she couldn't deny that she liked the occasional challenge: A decently sized rat might be able to put up a good fight for her. The one that she surveyed down below was about half her size. Still a small mammal, but large enough to be a worthy contender. He was dressed casually, and had a pair of earbuds stuck deep into his ear canals, occupying his sense of sound. The bat grinned with glee. Those things would make it almost too easy for her to get the drop on him! It was almost amusing to think that in this modern day and age, a prey mammal had so little reason to worry about being hunted by a predator that they could divert the very senses that kept them alive and alert in prehistoric times toward other things, such as phones and music. It was a cruel irony to think that those senses wouldn't be able to save the rat from his hunter, this time.
With her stomach growling for attention, Lucy decided that it was finally time to initiate the hunt. Grinning wide with excitement, she flapped down even lower and positioned herself atop a leaf large enough to hold the weight of a fully grown rabbit. Peering over the edge, she made sure that the coast was clear one last time before at last beginning to approach her target. Carefully hopping from one ginormous jungle leaf to another, the vampire bat further closed the distance with each leap.
Once she reached the last leaf, she launched herself forward and dove towards the rat as fast as she could, flapping her wings a few times to increase her speed.
As silent as a knife piercing flesh, Lucy's body collided with the rat's, causing the two mammals to be flung forward and off of the sidewalk, away from the revealing light of the nearby street-lamps, and into the dark foliage off the course of the concrete pathway, where no one could see them. The bat's sudden impact against the rat's body had completely knocked the air out of his lungs: No scream escaped from his mouth as the both of them tumbled down a small hill and deeper into the depths of the rainforest.
When their combined momentum had finally come to a halt, Lucy planted one of her palms against the rat's mouth, preventing him from making any further noise. Her sharp, polished black talons squeezed against the side of his face, and the flaps of her wing on the corresponding arm covered a portion of the rat's body like a leathery blanket.
Using her ankles, Lucy pinned down her prey's lower body as best she could, and with her free arm, pressed one of the rat's wrists into the forest floor, immobilizing it. Much to the vampire bat's convenience, the rat's other arm was stuck beneath the side of his body, and with Lucy's added weight keeping him from pulling it out from beneath him, he would be unable to use it to defend himself. It was the perfect position, with Lucy having all the control while her prey was stuck helpless beneath her. She grinned wide.
"I was just passing by, and I couldn't help but notice you all by yourself. I figured you could use some company... I could use a little something to drink."
From beneath Lucy's grip on his mouth, the rat tried to let out a scream of disapproval, but otherwise found himself nearly mute, thanks to the grip of Lucy's paw.
"Sorry sweetie, but we can't have anyone interrupting us, now can we? Just be a dear and try not to move around so much... I need to find a good vein."
The rat squealed out as loud as he could from between Lucy's clenched fingers, trying to squirm away before she shifted her weight some more, pinning him down for good. Fear filled the rat's beady little eyes as Lucy leered down at him, her fangs bared in a smile. She licked at her teeth hungrily, all the while relishing in her prey's look of terror.
"Cute!" Lucy cried with delight. "You'll taste delicious!"
And at that, the vampire bat lunged down and sank her fangs deep into the rat's neck. She immediately tasted blood; That warm, salty flavor washing against her tongue as it seeped from her prey's body and into her waiting mouth. She sucked on his neck, keeping her mouth firmly fastened to it to prevent any blood from escaping. Lapping it all up greedily, she continued to drink from him for a few short moments, satisfying that sense of thirst that had been ailing her ever since she had first left the Nocturnal-District, that was, until a sudden swell of noise filled her eardrums, earning her attention.
Annoyed, Lucy glared up toward the top of the nearby hill. It sounded as though a pair of mammals were walking down the same side-walk that this rat had been a few minutes earlier. Perhaps a pair of late-night joggers, tourists, or something of that sort. Below her, the rat tried calling out to them with what little volume he could manage.
Turning her attention back towards her prey, the vampire bat narrowed her eyes in irritation. "Hey," she hissed quietly. "Shut up already!"
Just as Lucy was about to divert her gaze to the passing mammals again, she felt a light force smack her upside the head. It wasn't that painful, but it was hard enough to disorient her a fair bit. At first, she thought that those joggers or whatever they were must have found her and came to help out the rat, but there were no voices nor was there the sound of leaves ruffling and crunching beneath anxious feet. Instead, Lucy was greeted with another strike, this time to the side of her head, causing her to yelp.
Staring in the direction of what had hit her, she realized that the rat beneath her must have been using his tail to defend himself. Lucy had completely forgotten about his tail, and from the looks of it, the rat had too, since he hadn't bothered trying to attack his captor with it before now. With her head momentarily disoriented, Lucy nearly lost her grip on the rat as he wriggled around, nearly freeing one of his arms and slipping out from beneath her. His tail smacked her once again directly on the face.
"You stupid little-!" Lucy growled, cutting herself short before readjusting her position in an effort to halt her prey's sudden movements. "Stop squirming!"
The two mammals thrashed around for a bit, struggling as the rat tried to wrestle off his captor. A small stream of blood was dripping from the piercing that Lucy had made in his neck, but he didn't show any signs of being weakened because of it. Thankfully, though, after a short while of struggling, the rat eventually tired himself out, and seemed to give up; His eyes closing and body going limp. Lucy prodded his face with one of her talons. The rat's heart was still beating, but he was seemingly unconscious, likely due to having fainted, or perhaps even blood loss. Whatever the case, Lucy was just glad to be able to finally finish her meal in peace. She glanced around, making sure that nobody was watching, and then resumed her feeding. She drank her fill without any further interruptions, and then abandoned the rat, still groaning in his fitful slumber.
Lucy returned to the place where she had stashed the mushrooms, and much to her relief, found them there, still sitting snug and untouched between a bushel of vines.
Content with her efforts, she retrieved the cargo before resuming her previous mission. She had no watch with her, but reasoned that there was still enough time left on her schedule to make it to Catpone's compound and back to the Nocturnal-District without much trouble. Taking a brief detour to feed hadn't been part of the plan, sure, but it was worth it, in her eyes. Vampire bats needed consistent sustenance to stay alive, and although Vlad let her drink from him occasionally, and his own henchmen offered up samples of their own blood as payment, Lucy couldn't deny how much she enjoyed the thrill of hunting for her own meals.
With her craving quenched at last, though, she could now turn her full attention towards finishing the mission at hand.
Continuing deeper into the depths of the Rainforest-District, Lucy soon entered the deepest part of the jungle. Here, the vegetation was denser, the atmosphere darker, and the bustling night-life far less abundant. Below her flight-path, the female bat could spot seedy-looking mammals including wolves and raccoons shuffling through the streets.
Eventually, she reached the designated rendezvous point: A large steel balcony jutting out from the trunk of a massive tree. Through holes in the many branches, Lucy could see dim lights flickering and hear voices moving about on the inside. A slight mist had developed around the vicinity, fogging up the area. She doubted that this was the true head of Al Catpone's criminal empire, but whatever this hideout was, it definitely didn't seem like the kind of place you wanted to wander into by accident, that was for sure.
The bat noticed a lone mammal watching her near the edge of the big balcony. He appeared to be some sort of weasel species, possibly a tayra, and had most likely been out waiting for her arrival. As Lucy touched down on the balcony, she slung the bag of smelly mushrooms off from her shoulder and stared down at her weaselly greeter. He was dressed in a wrinkled, too-large pair of black slacks with a white button-up and suspenders wrapped around his collar. A few pink scars etched along his face, and his black fur was greasy and matted like an oil cloth. Lucy wasn't surprised that Al had sent one of his lackeys to pick up the mushrooms for him, rather than make the trip on his own.
"Well, aren't you a pretty one." The weasel muttered, eyeing over the vampire bat with a pair of hungry eyes. Lucy was unimpressed.
"Save it, creep," she growled, making sure to show off her bloodstained fangs as a warning. "I'm just here to deliver these to your stupid boss."
With one paw on her hip and a flat expression across her face, she tossed the bag of mushrooms to Pazzo, who caught it without flinching.
"And don't forget to tell him that he owes me one for this! He'd better cough up that reward he promised sooner or later, or else he'll be sorry."
Pazzo laughed dryly, and cracked a yellow, toothy grin of amusement. "I like you," he stated with a slight chuckle. "I'll be sure to remind the capo of his vows."
"Good. Hop to it. I'm outta here."
At that, the vampire bat pushed herself up off of the ground with a hard gust from her wings, and began to fly away, intent on returning to the Nocturnal-District. Along the way, she grinned smugly to herself, imagining what it would be like to tell Vlad the tale of her latest adventure. Pazzo quietly watched as she flew off and into the treetops of the branches high above. He then stared down at the plastic bag full of mushrooms that Lucy had thrown his way. Opening it, he took a whiff of their scent and recoiled.
"Sheesh, these things reek!" The tayra hissed, resisting the temptation to throw the bag as far away from himself as he could.
Choking back his disgust, he slung the bag over his shoulder like a heavy backpack, grumbling, before making his way back into the depths of his boss's secret compound.
Hey everyone!
This latest chapter of ours sure had a lot with Lucy, didn't it? Truth is, I did plan to have another scene with Nick and Judy at the academy, and a new scene with Doug and Al in this chapter, but since the chapter was starting to get a bit too big, I decided to split it up and place those particular scenes in chapter 103. Nonetheless, I did have a lot of fun writing it, as it was neat to give Lucy some more screen-time, especially since we haven't seen her in a long while, bar the previous chapter, of course. Indeed; this latest chapter was designed to shed some light a bit more on the villain's perspective as they work for their own goals, all the while having that quick scene at the academy up above, to provide some aftermath of what happened last chapter. Advancing the plot little by little behind the scenes, it seems that everyone has their own goals, huh? This latest update of ours may have been a rather Lucy-focused chapter, this time around, but I figured it would be fun to see some more with her. Sort of a short solo adventure, just so we can see what she's up to, and how it plays in to the story's coming events, which will be quite pivotal. You'll see. I hoped you enjoyed what this new chapter had to offer all the same.
Other perspectives will be explored in the coming chapters, though. You'll see!
And don't worry, you'll be getting plenty more content involving Nick and Judy as they work at the academy in the coming chapters! You may even be getting a scene with Bogo and the other chiefs in one of the upcoming chapters as they do their own jobs, as well. Whatever the case, just know that you can expect a lot more scenes at the academy with Nick and Judy before the next phase of the seventh story arc begins at last! In fact, after the next chapter (103) is released, it'll be nothing but the good guys for a few chapters, before some new things start to kick off. I can't wait to make it happen. Do stay tuned!
Until then, I thank you for reading this latest chapter. If you haven't already, do feel free to Favorite/Follow this story of ours! I would appreciate that very much. Really helps with the motivation, as you might suspect. And as for my reviewers out there; What did you think of Nick and Judy's brief talk with Harlan and Mary at the beginning? And what did you think of Lucy's new solo scene, and all that came with it? I'd love to know your thoughts on it all!
Anyhow, that's all I've got to say for now, really. Again, thanks for reading, as always, and do stay tuned for the next chapter!
'Till next time...
Peace!