AN: First I'd like to thank Gamer4COD for their feedback. I have made edits where I saw necessary in the published chapters. I appreciate any and all feedback. It helps me as writer and helps this story be better for all of you.

And to answer the guest question. The short answer is yes. The long answer is that Jack is not well versed with the Nexus yet to do so. He has had the Nexus for a short time, not long enough to fully use all of its core functions. I planned that as the story progressed we would see Jack get more accustomed to the Nexus and be able to do greater feats. It cannot generate ordinary matter, Jack can't hold out his hand and a lump of gold would appear. Neither could a suit of iron armor envelop him. It can only really create the crystal like matter that Jack has had on his legs and arms. He could also pull some nearby matter and create armor that way. The one drawback is the energy consumption. The larger the feat, like a full suit of armor, requires far more energy to use and maintain it. And the Nexus stores energy as surface area. And since Jack is a small bunny there is very little surface area for him to allow for it to store proper reserves of energy to do so. I hope this answers the question and clears up any confusion on the matter.


Chapter Twelve

Off the Case

The rain had lessened to a drizzle as the rabbits and fox saw several emergency lights light up the dark jungle around them. The black forest was now lit by flashing reds and blues. Several police cruisers, two ambulances, and even a fire truck made up the convergence of emergency vehicles. They had not seen any more wolves as they trekked back to the road. They had walked back towards where the chase began when they heard the police sirens first. They stopped on the edge of the road and waited for them to arrive. After a few words were exchanged some of the cruisers and the fire truck went up to the road following Jack's directions.

Judy was in the back of one of the ambulances with an otter nurse looking her over. Nick sat on the edge of the truck with a gray trauma blanket wrapped around him. Jack sat next to him; he declined the blanket that had been offered to him. It was off to his right. A faint boom of thunder rang out in the distance as the storm moved away from the Rainforest District and more inland. A shadow formed in the light filtering from the back of the ambulance. Jack and Nick looked to the towering Bogo.

The buffalo broke the silence, "Would either of you two care to explain?"

Nick and Jack looked to each other, exchanging the glance without a word. They looked back to Bogo, Jack beat Nick to the punch, "It's all my fault Bogo."

The cape buffalo looked suspiciously at Jack, "How so Savage?"

"It's not sir," Nick interjected. The red fox had dislodged himself from the back of the ambulance discarding the thick blanket. He stumbled on the landing, but recovered.

Bogo looked to his officer, "I still am not sure what went on here Wilde. All I have heard is your cruiser is now a smoldering skeleton of what it once was. Hopps and you are both injured from wolves armed with lethals. And I have not heard a reason as to why this all happened."

"I led them here," Jack chimed in. He stepped off the ambulance, "I found a lead to the Elkson case back in Tundratown that led us to here. But when we arrived we were ambushed by those wolves. We tried to escape, but they crashed us off the road. They were planning on killing both Hopps and Wilde. Me as well if they knew I was here. It was because of me that your officers are still alive and that we know this case is far beyond a simple copycat."

"How so?" Bogo pondered the last bit Jack stated.

"It's because of the wolves. If they were all armed with lethals then they must be well financed. They must have plans probably on the same scale as the whole Bellwether thing. Not just a simple copycat wishing for infamy and disorder."

"Excuse me Chief Bogo." Bogo's response was interrupted by the nurse making a presence at the end of the ambulance. The three animals in her company turned as she continued, "It would seem that Officer Hopps has some severe fractures on several of her bones of the damaged leg. As well some others that need attention at a hospital. We have to take her as soon as possible to set and correct them."

"That's fine." The buffalo responded.

Without a word the back of the ambulance closed, the lights turned on and it made its exit. The siren blared to life as it left the back road and entered the main ones of the Canal District. Once it was gone Bogo looked back to Jack and Nick, "If everything is as you say, then the decision is final."

"What decision sir," Nick asked.

"You and Hopps are off the case. It will be going to the HICU to take over fully at this point."

"You can't do that!" Nick tried to protest the Chief.

Bogo looked to the red fox in front of him. His face plastered with a look that read, don't test me Wilde. But that was exactly what Nick did, "Just because of what happened you can't take us off."

"Actually, I believe I have the authority to dismiss you from the case."

The party turned to see the newest addition. Standing before them was an elephant. He was not dressed as an officer; instead he wore black dress pants and a solid oxblood button-down shirt. He looked down at the party with eyes that matched his skin; then singled out Nick, "Officer Wilde I have the express authority to take you off the case. Given that Bogo took it from my department without first consulting me." He looked to Bogo. Nick interrupted the elephant's speech, "Who are you exactly."

Bogo seemed to emanate an aura of anger as the elephant simply sighed, "I don't expect you to recognize me, Hopps might."

He held out a stumped arm, "The name is Darius Grey, Head of the HICU."

Bogo gripped his wrist and gave it a shake. Nick followed the action, to the best of his ability with his far smaller paw. Jack elected to stand on the sidelines of this conversation till he became relevant. Bogo spoke, "I'm sorry if this cut into your schedule Darius."

"Not at all Bogo," the elephant gave a dismissive wave of his arm, "It's a good distraction from all of the problems still going on setting up our headquarters."

"Demolition still not going to plan?" Bogo asked.

Darius answered with a sigh, "You don't know how many codes that damn Cliffside violated, no wonder the place was shut down."

"Cliffside Asylum?" Nick asked.

"The very one," Darius confirmed, "The HICU needed a base of operations, why not the old building that was the root of our founding so to speak."

"A little bit too poetic," Jack added from the side.

"I think so too," Darius agreed looking at the rabbit, "But Mayor Malay made the decision; we have to follow that order."

There was a pause before Darius continued, "And who exactly are you?"

"Jack Savage," Jack presented his hand, which Darius completely shadowed as he allowed Jack to grip it and give a shake.

"And how are you involved in all of this Mister Savage?"

"He's a consultant that is helping us with the case," Nick answered.

"Very well," Darius accepted, "He was," the elephant corrected, "come tomorrow the HICU will take it over and continue the investigation."

"And why are we being taken off the case?" Nick wanted an answer, "I may not be so upset, but Judy will be when she finds out."

"It's simply as Savage said," Darius answered, "This doesn't look like the copycat case that was first assumed and may be exactly why the HICU was formed. We don't want another Bellwether incident on our paws."

"But it was a cop like Judy that solved the Night Howler case." Nick clarified.

"That may be the case," Darius countered, "But that was before such a thing like the HICU existed."

Darius paused before continuing, "I don't want to make an enemy of you Mister Wilde. But as the head of the HICU I have to step in when I have to. If I didn't the mayor would see it as us not doing the job it was created for."

Nick didn't answer. Seeing one not coming Darius asked, "Why don't we all see what sort of base of operations these wolves had."

He clapped his arms as he turned away. He walked up the road not waiting for the others to follow. Bogo left to join the elephant, but not before glaring daggers at Nick and Jack. Jack looked to the vulpine, who looked at him. They didn't exchange anything as they rushed to catch up to the larger mammals.

Sensing their presence Darius asked, "Did those wolves divulge into any information about their plans."

"Nope." Nick simply responded.

"Nothing?" Darius asked a bit skeptical.

"Not a thing, they were more of the shoot first talk later type of wolves." Nick clarified.

"Very well." Darius dropped the topic as they arrived at the cut in the tree line. It was the very path they had found before when the wolves attacked. This time the party of four made their way up the path surrounded by a wall of trees. The foliage became sparse not that long later as an artificial clearing appeared before them. This was tightly encircled by the jungle. In the center of it sat the foundation to a small building. About five hundred square feet.

But there were no remains of the building left. All that was left was a black charred burned husk of what once sat in the center of the clearing. The embers were still glowing. The rain had dissipated, thus prolonging the life of the fire, but even with the rain it was still able to burn down what once stood here.

A few firefighters were standing along the outskirts of the charred remains, the truck not that far from them. They were watching to make sure no wayward sparks made their way to the rest of the forest. Darius looked to the ruins, "It would seem these timbers are quite experience."

"Arson to hide the evidence," Jack chimed in.

"Very true," Darius commented as he walked away from the group and towards one of the fire fighters.

Bogo waited till the elephant was out of earshot. He turned to face the rabbit and fox, "You got five minutes."

Without exchanging another word he walked to join Darius. Taking it as their queue Nick and Jack rushed towards the burned structure. They were not near any of the other occupants of the clearing. No one had noticed them. Kneeling down Jack tapped the Nexus and its screen lit up. Ness spoke up, "Yes Jack?"

Not wasting a second Jack held his hand out and scanning beams erupted from the device. They rolled over the foundation as Jack asked, "Can you reconstruct a burned building?"

"Physically or in hologram?"

"I need a hologram around the Nexus."

"Small hologram it is." Ness confirmed.

The two watched as a flat square plate formed in the air over the Nexus. As the scans continued the foundation rose from the wireframe structure. As more seconds passed the hologram began to form into a building. The scanning beams died down and receded into the Nexus. As it came to a stop Ness chimed in, "I can't create an exact replica of it. Material was lost in the fire so I can't perfectly account for the once standing structure. But may I ask why?"

"What can you tell us about the building?" Nick asked.

"Well Officer Wilde," Ness began "It has a concrete basement foundation," the hologram came apart to show the two floors of the building. The lower one increased in size while the second remained small.

"This is well preserved due to the flame retardance. Nevertheless I can't pick up on anything besides a few remains of furniture and some metal scraps and some basic mechanical tools. The basement served as some sort of workshop. The main floor," the basement shrank and top floor increase in size this time, "I can't pick up much on. I can't separate what was wall, roof, or flooring to anything that could have existed on the floor before the building was set ablaze."

"Thanks Ness," Jack spoke, "That's all."

"Very good Jack," Ness responded as the screen returned to black. Jack stood back up, Nick followed. The rabbit looked to see Bogo was still talking with Darius. He looked to Nick and asked, "Can you make anything of that?"

"Not more than the obvious," Nick looked to the dying embers, "These guys must have cleared shop the instant we arrived. Tried to leave as little evidence as possible as they burned the place to the ground. There is no way we can figure out their next move."

"We can't do anything more about the case anyway," Jack added, "The HICU is taking the reins. You and Judy will probably both be off duty till you both recover."

"You're probably right." Nick agreed, his ears falling back a bit. He perked up fast, turning to Jack, "Let's just get out of here. I think Buffalo Butt is going to make me go to the hospital whether I like it or not."

Jack didn't give an answer back as they walked back towards the buffalo and elephant.

A solitary medium sized mammal leaned on the edge of metal scaffolding that loomed several yards above the hard floor below. The mammal was cloaked in the darkness of the steel building. Every window had been covered up in the hangar like structure. It stretched for nearly five hundred feet in both directions. As well as about one hundred fifty feet from wall to wall. The ceiling was made of a curved dome. The mammal looked down as sparks of acetylene torches blazed to life in several different locations along a massive structure contained by the hangar. They were like fireflies almost. The structure contained by the building was completely covered with high power portable lights. The entire gray metal flat top of it was lit up. A large square pit in the very center of it, right below the mammal, was gouged into the once pristine metal. Most of the torches were concentrated in the empty hole.

The mammal observed several other animals below moving to and fro moving several different pieces of equipment. Most of which was for the torch bearers to continuing their work without taking much pause. He was pulled from his observations by someone else walking towards him along the narrow walkway. He dislodged himself from the edge and looked to the smaller mammal, "What can you tell me about our boys in the jungle?"

"They got the equipment out and are moving it to the other warehouse sir."

"And the cops that found them?"

There was a pause. The larger of the too cast a gaze in the darkness. A gaze that could not be seen, but sensed none the less. The smaller mammal gulped as he meekly answered, "They failed sir. Some of our men were killed."

"Failed." The mammal stated back. He cared more about the former statement than the latter. He nodded his head slightly yes as he turned away and looked to the structure below, "Tell be Albert, do I like failure?"

"No sir," Albert quickly answered.

"Right, I don't," He paused before continuing, "Failure is one thing we have to deal without you stupid badger."

The honey badger gave no response as his boss continued, "We have been working tirelessly for months for our operation to come to fruition. And when it is less than a week from us, two rodent cops nearly stop the entire enterprise."

The larger animal turned back to Albert, "We now have to speed up our clock."

"But sir, we are already-"

The leader raised a paw for Albert to stop. To which he obliged. He spoke with a bit more annoyance in his tone, "I don't care about the work hours. If we don't get this thing built within the next day we won't have another chance."

"But what about testing it?"

"The second test will be tomorrow. Go get the boys and the device ready for deployment."

"Yes sir," Albert gave a bow and quickly ran back down the scaffolding.

The lone mammal gave a sigh as he returned to his position. He continued to watch the work below as a crane began to lower a large black cylinder into the pit. A buzzing in his pocket attracted his attention. He fished the phone from his right pocket and looked to the home screen. The number was blocked, but he knew very well who was calling him. He accepted the call and moved the phone to his ear and spoke first, "Any news for me director?"

The caller gave his response.

The mammal responded, "I should hope so. It cost them their lives."

A garbled question sounded from the phone.

"Yes. I'm sending the team out soon to set it up."

Another question came.

"One of them was hospitalized right?"

The caller clarified.

"How severe?"

An answer came from the caller.

"That can't be done. Which one was more injured?"

A one word response came through the phone.

"Then this will work in our favor. I'll tell them to make a little trip in after the thing is ready go. Give her a front row seat to what we have cooked up for this accursed city."

The caller asked another question.

"We will be rushing the finishing of it. The device will be finished tonight. I want to go at the first rays of light after tomorrow."

Another question followed.

"I know it is going to work. If the test today was any indication. I designed the damned thing. This time it will be more than just one moose."

The caller sent another question into the conversation.

"No, just get here around noon. Don't want you to be anywhere near the city right."

The caller agreed and said his goodbyes.

"And you too." He lifted the phone from his ear and ended the call. He put his phone back where it once was and returned to watching the cylinder being turned upright and lowered further into the pit. A smiled filled with sharp teeth formed on his face, "Soon Zootopia, very soon."

He removed himself from the railing and walked down the scaffolding.