Hey all. Been a while since I updated, sorry 'bout that. Like my profile specifies, my update times are awefully irregular. There have been reasons as to why I haven't written a lot over the past two months, but I won't trouble you with them. Instead, enjoy chapter 23.

23. Insurgency

==Judy==

A stumble overhead stirred me from my sleep. I felt a comfortable warmth as I woke up, thanks to my blanket. Yesterday, after Jake had left me, a wolf had returned to wrap me in a thick blanket. It was made of artificial wool and kept me warm. If Jake was going to take my life, at least he wouldn't be doing so by letting me slowly freeze in his basement. The wool isolated generously and its gentle embrace had made me doze off. I knew for a fact however, that the moment Jake would return, I would have the chills in no time. I had to escape this room. The question was how.

When I opened my eyes, I saw nothing. Without the lights, the room was as black as night. The basement had been completely dark after the my last visitor, the wolf, had had departed and although this had facilitated a steady sleep, it complicated my intention to break free. Despite the near pitch-black, some details stood out. The boxes stashed against the walls, the pillars that held the floor above me, the staircase. Maybe this was also, because I remembered these distinguishing features. The first step to retaking my freedom, was to get free from my cuffs and increase visibility.

Again, I heard noise overhead and this time it was closer. An assumption that proved correct after the door atop the stairs swung open. A small silhouette with tall ears appeared vaguely against the bright hallway that forced my eyes into narrow slits. This was only worsened when the basement light was turned on. In the sound of his slow descent, I recognized my captor. I heard him position himself in front of me. He waited for me to open my eyes to look at him. I postponed this for as long as I felt credible, to test his current temper.

"Slept well, Judy? I can call you Judy, right?"

I reckoned that Jake was at least a man of hygiene as he seemingly wore a different shirt every day, today a blue one. I also smelled an expensive variant of eau de toilette.

"Miss Hopps will do." I replied.

"Right, Judy it is." He continued undisturbed.

A caribou came down to place a chair for his boss and left as quickly as he had come. Jake took off and hung his jacket over the back of the chair and sat down in front of me. My eye fell on the metallic pen that shimmered in the breast pocket. It might have a point sharp enough to break the tie wraps around my wrists and ankles. I had to get a hold of it.

"So. Have you given the matter some thought?"

"What matter?" I lied.

He smiled.

"Our matter of course."

"I thought I was very clear yesterday. It was yesterday, right?" I asked evasively.

"Really? That is pitiful. Are you sure?"

I had a feeling that stretching the inevitable conclusion would be the wisest move to make. Sadly, he had not come for anything else than a direct answer.

"Yeah. I don't know."

"You don't know if you're sure?" He asked hopeful.

"No, I mean I don't know what day it is."

A muscle on Jake's forehead twitched. He did his best to suppress his anger. That was a nice change in pace, however it also meant that he would be able to think more rationally. That was not to my advantage. Angry men made mistakes, calm men didn't.

"I had been hoping for a change of heart."

Was he serious? How could he ever think that after last night, I would just forgot all my principles and say yes? He had abducted me, locked me up and hit me, and still he wouldn't understand that I want nothing to do with him. His arrogance was immeasurable.

"What gave you reason to believe one would occur? The abduction or the manly beat up you gave me?" I remarked bitterly.

My words shocked him and he realized that by hitting me, he had undeniably made himself only more of a villain. He leaned forward and tried to caress my cheek. I moved away as far as I could, but wasn't able to avoid his cold, white hand rubbing the dried stream of blood from the fur of my face. He looked at me in near-genuine concern. I knew that it was just an act. That concern would fade once my answer got through that thick skull of him.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt you, you know that right? That's why I gave you the blanket. Look, Judy, we're not so different you know." He said, shifting his paw from my cheek to having it rest on my knee, making me even less comfortable. "I just want to be your friend. Will you let me be your friend, Judy? Please?"

He leaned forward in an attempt to kiss me. That was the last straw. I seized the moment to abruptly swing my head forward and bash it right onto Jake's nose. Despite having completely forgotten my initial plan to get the pen, my blow was so sudden that Jake tumbled backwards and, together with his chair, fell onto the floor. In the process, the pen was catapulted from his pocket and landed against the boxes behind him.

He crawled onto his feet, his flaming eyes forewarning me that I was in for a retaliation. I didn't care. I'd rather be struck a dozen times if it meant avoiding getting kissed by this creep. He wiped the blood that came out of his left nostril with the back of his paw. Already infuriated by my action, seeing the red fluid was in turn his last straw. He raised his arm to strike me again and I braced for another beat up. It didn't. He was halted at the very last moment by the caribou upstairs.

"Boss. He's here."

Jake's nose twitched. I read from his expression that he hated the timing as it was apparently too urgent to postpone it to give me my punishment. Without saying another word, he swept away another bit of blood, grabbed his coat and hurried up the stairs. The caribou turned off the lights and closed the door.

I giggled. Although Jake had gotten the answer to his question, I doubt it had been the one he had hoped for.

==Nick==

*Pweeep*

An aggressive honk from the car I passed by. I ignored it and continued my journey to Big's mansion on the far side of Tundra Town. How could I have been so dumb. Big never trusted me with this case. He had only needed me to get into the ZPD and retrieve this video. I was such an idiot lately. Normally I'd smell a hoax like this from miles away. When had I become such a fool? I knew the answer, yet wasn't willing to accept it. It had been since I had partnered up with Judy. My feelings for her made me blind to otherwise obvious hints. I had been so hell-bent on going after her that I had been remiss in acknowledging that Big was every bit the hustler I was.

Another car sounded his horn in response to my hasty driving style and I contemplated turning the siren on. I chose not to. I was almost there and I had probably already been snapped by a speed camera anyway. At the end of the next street lay the villa.

It was time for me to start living up to the promise I made to myself. In order to rescue Judy, I had to become the tactician I used to be. The superior conman that could fool everybody. I had to be if I wanted her back. Mr. Big's treacherous act, along with Bogo denying me her case, only showed me that I was truly alone in this fight. And if I was only to rely on myself, I had to be able to strike down every obstacle, either in a legitimate way or in a more… vulpine way.

I knew there was not a chance Big's men were gonna let me see him, so I had to trick them to get inside. Fortunately, my competitive spirit had reinvigorated all of my cunning, the moment Kevin had pulled a fast one on me. I had devised a plan during my ride here, and I would waste no time executing it. I parked my car outside the premises and gestured to the bear that was posted outside.

"Hey buddy, can you help me? I got a package for Mr. Big."

He shot me a tentative glare.

"I know nothing of any package."

"That's because I wasn't sure I'd make it today. Here, come have a look." I said, opening the trunk.

It worked and he walked over to me. What he didn't know was that the package was in fact my tranquilizer gun. It didn't take long for the serum to take effect and when it did, he stumbled drowsily against the car, trying to hold himself up, only to eventually slide onto the bricks. He was too heavy for me to drag him back into his gatekeeper cabin, so I had to leave him on the sidewalk in front of the house. This made me feel a little guilty.

"Sorry pal. Nothing personal." I apologized.

I walked down Big's driveway without encountering anyone else. Nearing the front door, I got the two guards in sight. I had already configured a plan to get past them.

They had been slouching a bit due to the inactivity of their job. They reared upright when one of them alarmed the other of my approach. I walked so casually however, that they were unsure of how to react.

"Good afternoon." I said.

"Woah, mate. Hold on for a second!" The left one stopped me.

His name was Bryan and he was the older and smarter one of the set. I knew that, because he was in the service of Mr. Big for a long time already. He had been here too when I sold Mr. Big the skunk-butt-rug. He was also a stickler for protocol, thus not knowing of my arrival, stood out to him as odd. Moreover, he knew my face and my reputation.

"Joe hasn't said anything about you coming our way."

"He tried, but his radio was broken." I made up.

As was to be expected, Bryan tried to reach Joe via his walky-talky. The latter of course didn't respond since he was sleeping on the sidewalk next to my car.

"See? Feel free to go and check him if you don't believe me." I suggested, knowing it would take him at least fifteen minutes to do so.

"And meanwhile you sneak inside?" He asked distrustful.

I sighed.

"Listen buddy. If I truly wanted to get inside unnoticed, do you think I would've walked up to the front door?"

"He's got a point." The other added.

"Shut up, Johnny." Bryan responded agitated.

He readdressed me.

"Fine. I'll go check on him. But while I do, you wait here" he turned back to Johnny "and you make sure that he does. And be careful, cause he's a trickster."

The second, younger guard nodded understandingly and Bryan left for the front gate. I waited tactically for him to get out of hearing distance.

"As much as I want to obey your brawny friend, I am already a little late for my appointment, so I'm going in if you don't mind."

He blocked my passage with his paw.

"I do mind. Bryan told me to keep you here, so that's what I'll do."

"Yeah, but if your boss finds out you've kept his guest here, unnecessarily, he won't be all that pleased with you, you know that, don't you?"

I intentionally referred to Mr. Big as his employer to aid my words in reaching their goal. My babysitter was, as I had gauged correctly, relatively new and therefore pliable by the magic of doubt.

"I guess not. But I have my orders and-"

"Wait. Here's an idea. If you just guide me upstairs and to Mr. Big, he can explain it himself."

"I don't know. Bryan warned me not to trust you."

"Come on. If you're with me all the way, what possible harm could I do?"

With the illusion of remaining in control of the situation, he agreed to my solution. He escorted me in and down the hallway to the mammal I had come to see. The hustle I pulled on this poor soul had two benefits for me. First, I wouldn't have any issues getting through the house as I was escorted by Johnny. Second, I wouldn't have to try and find Mr. Big as Johnny already led me straight to him. Moreover, I had been here multiple times over the past few days and since nobody knew every exact order, they naturally assumed I was here on invitation, especially for the first of the two reasons.

We halted in front of Big's working office. That was another fortunate turn, since it was likely that the shrew would be entirely alone.

"Come in." He answered Johnny's knocking on the door.

In comparison to the room where Judy and I had been received earlier, his studies were a lot less appealing. The walls were decorated with the same black and maroon stripes as the rest of the house, although it lacked the small artifacts, such as the family paintings, that had given the other room a certain degree hospitality. On this wall hung solely a screen with a beamer standing on a board on the opposite wall. Furthermore there was no carpet on the floor and furniture – other than a heightened desk and chair for Big himself – was absent as well. The rodent was writing something on a piece of paper that looked more like parchment than actual paper. This gave an odd contrast with the modern laptop that also resided on his desk, albeit turned off.

"This man says he had an appointment with you, sir."

It was funny how Johnny announced me so formally.

"Appointment? I have no memory of..." Big's shock of recognition was briefer than with normal mammals, maybe partly because he had expected my return. "What is he doing here?! Seize him!"

Johnny responded to his boss's command a moment too late and the tranq dart in his foot took away his motor control in mere seconds. I stepped aside to avoid getting under him as he plummeted onto the floor.

Unfortunately, I had miscalculated the amount of bears in the room. Big wasn't alone. Koslov was here to and he, alerted at the same time as his employer, grabbed me by the shoulder. Panicked, I shot his belly full of sedative darts. To make sure the huge bear succumbed before ripping off my arm, I had taken the liberty of hitting him trice. With the angry glare still on his face, he slowly sunk through his knees as he gradually lost the fight with the drugs that ran through his veins. When I was sure they were both down, I turned to the small animal on the desk.

"Well played Nicky. Now what is your plan?"

He sounded unimpressed, yet I knew that in taking down Koslov, I held all the cards now.

"The evidence from the car, the video, I want it." I replied, rubbing my sore shoulder.

"You break into my house and threaten me, all for that?" He wondered.

"Like I said before, Judy means just as much to me as Fru Fru means to you."

He took a moment to recollect that and nodded.

"If you want to know, it was Lupinski who has taken them." He said, turning on his laptop.

"I'll be the judge of that." I pulled a USB drive from my duty belt and placed it on the table before him. "The video… Please."

Since the video didn't hold any other strategical value, he didn't struggle further and did as I commanded. He plugged the portable memory stick into an adapter cable, allowing a connection between it and the shrew's much smaller laptop. He showed me that the file was indeed on the USB drive and then returned it to me.

"Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to make sure that you don't alarm anyone while I leave your house."

I lifted him up with chair and all, and placed him onto the floor. It would take him a while to get back onto his desk and that was where his array of emergency buttons was.

"Even though I approve of your determination to find the girls, I will not let you get away with breaking into my house and threatening me at gunpoint." He said.

I scoffed.

"Don't you say I had to do anything to get them back safely?"

And with that line to think about, I closed the door behind me. And walked to one of the many backdoors of the villa just as casually as on my way in. Having seen me enter the house with Johnny, nobody was inclined to stop me. I even greeted a guard on my way out. Once outside, I chose the route past the least amount of windows to reach the front door. Like on my way here, there was nobody out on the premises, so I could sneak back unnoticed. I waited a minute behind a bush, until Bryan came running back and barge through the front door and into the house. This meant that there was now nobody left to stop me here from getting to my car. And even if there was, I'd always have my tranquilizer gun. I dropped my relaxed attitude and ran as fast as I could the front gate and to the safety of my car.

Joe was for as yet unconscious, thus I stepped over him and fired up the engine to make a quick getaway. It was then that my phone rang. The display showed an unknown number, leaving me hesitant in picking up. After it had rung for the fifth time however, I pressed the green button nonetheless.

"Who is this?" I asked doubtfully.