Cobwebs hung thick from the roof of the castle dungeons. A black-bodied fly buzzed circles around the room which was large yet cramped with crates, broken chairs and other miscellaneous junk - the dungeon being used more as a storage room these days than a torture room - at least until recently. The fly buzzed its way up to the roof which, in hindsight, it decided was not the smartest move in its career as is it became caught in one of the many spider's webs and was instantly pounced upon by an awaiting arachnid. The small fly writhed for an instant as it struggled to get free, but its body stilled as the life was sucked from it.

The heavy, iron latch of the thick door clicked open as the handle was turned. The metal-reinforced portal swung slowly open and an apprehensive, amethyst eye peeped around from outside.

Judy gazed down at the floor beneath her, assuring herself the cluttered room was devoid of life before she slipped inside, glancing over her shoulder as she slid the heavy door shut again.

Swiftly, the rabbit made her way down the stone staircase, her footfall silent as she stepped down onto the cold floor beneath. She paced towards the center of the room, her eyes flitting here and there as she tried to take in every detail worthy of note, grimacing as her eyes fell upon a selection of thumbscrews hung upon the wall. Not the lethalest of tools, she noted, but still pretty damn gruesome.

Making her way to the end of the stone basement, Hopps came to a stop before a wooden rack. Her eyes wandered across it, examining the cuffs that would hold down the feet, the strap that would secure the neck... and the handle which would tare those two extremities further apart until one was severed from the other.

A shiver ran through her small body. She told herself it was the cold but she knew full well what had really caused it. She turned about at the iron maiden upon the wall, painted to resemble a female badger in mourning. The rabbit reached up a hand. Judy's lips parted just a little. Her soft paw touched upon the rough and grainy wood and she ran her hand down across painting of the crying badger's face.

The latch cracked behind her. Judy shot around. The door swung open. No time to hide. The rabbit rushed for the entranceway and a black-furred feline stepped in.

"Hey," Robert cried, spotting her, "get out here. I'll have you!"

The feline started to rush down the staircase, towards the rabbit who was stood at the base of it. He extended his claws as he approached, raising his paw in preparation to slice open the rabbit's gut.

Judy dove to the side at the last moment as McKern reached the bottom step, his claws sweeping through empty space as Judy's leg kicked out behind her and threw the cat off balance. He stumbled and fell awkwardly, failing to regain his balance in time before the rabbit lept at him and planted both feet of a rabbit-kick in the small of his back.

Already off balance, the cat was knocked clean off his feet by the rabbit's kick and sent sprawling into a crate of old wood which collapsed under his weight. Robert hurriedly picked up a piece of the broken wood as Judy rushed towards him, swinging it through the air towards her in a bid to ward her off.

The rabbit reacted with another kick which landed squarely upon the cat's wrist, making him call out and open his palm in pain, the plank of wood effectively dealt with before any harm could be done.

McKern drew his hands close to his body defensively, resizing, as he lay on his back upon the floor, that he was clearly no match for her. The rabbit straddled his chest and glared down at him. The cat stared up at Judy's furious expression as she stepped closer to him, too afraid to so much as move to defend himself. She raised her paw, and delivered a swift punch which hit home right between the eyes, knocking the cat out cold.

Judy looked down at her handy work, considering why he decided to attack her on sight rather than find out why she was there first, when her ear sprang upright at a sound behind her.

The rabbit turned - too late - as Robert's brother, Roderick, brought his wooden truncation down upon heavily upon the rabbit's skull. The lights went out.

...

In the corridor just outside, the large front door swung open on its iron hinges and the lean frame of a red fox sauntered in from the heat of the mid-day sun, greeted by Laird Ian De'ath who was walking by at the time.

"Enjoy your walk, Mister MacWilde?" he asked.

The fox chuckled, holding up the paper boat. "Really quite amusing, thanks. How deep is your mote?" he asked, stepping past the basement door.

"Deep enough for its purpose."

The fox and badger stopped and turned at the sound of the dungeon door opening, Wilde's brow raising with concern as the figure of a rabbit stumbled out, clutching at her head.

"Miss Hopps!" Ian cried, rushing to her, "Are you alright?"

"Let me see," Nick said, stepping towards her possessively and supporting her in his arms, slowly stroking his paw across the top of her head as he gazed into her pained eyes. "Seems to be alright," he said after a moment.

"What were you doing down there anyway," Ian asked. "You have no right, not without asking me first, those dungeons are dangerous."

"I couldn't agree more," the rabbit said, dryly.

"What happened?" said Nick.

The rabbit's gaze met the fox's; her brow raised meaningfully.

"You slipped, I'd wager," Ian said, "slipped and hit your head, hey?"

"...yes," she said.

"Yes. Yes, just as I thought. Those steps are slippery as glass. MacWilde," Ian continued, "you stay and look after Miss Hopps, will ye? I'll get a key and lock this door. We don't want a repeat of this sort of thing, do we?"

The rabbit pouted at the fox, whining a little as she rubbed at her head. The fox stepped closer, putting his arms softly around the rabbit's smaller body. "Come on, Hopps," the fox said, tenderly, "you lean on me just as much as you like."

Leaning into the fox's reassuring warmth, Judy followed him as he lead her back to his room, both failing to notice the dungeon door as it inched open a tad, and the head of a dark-gray feline which poked out from within.

...

The door to Hopps' guest bedroom opened. Wilde stepped in, holding the rabbit securely in his arms as he made his way across the expensive, wood floor towards a large, four poster bed in the corner.

"Alright," Nick said as he let her down on the bed, "so what really happened?"

"I was jumped."

"Oh. Who by?"

"Didn't recognize them. Must've been the McKern's we've been hearing about."

"How'd they manage to sneak up on you with your hearing?"

"One came in as I was snooping about. I'd just finished him off when the other appeared behind me with a club. I was only out for a few moments, and when I woke up they were gone."

"Unhelpful of them."

"Didn't you see them leave?"

"No, I didn't see anything."

"Odd. Something else that's odd, I didn't hear the latch on the door click open when the second McKern came in."

"So?"

"So, that means he must have already been in the room when I first went in, and if he didn't go past you, should still be in there now."

"What if he'd been hiding? You wouldn't have seen him then."

"But I didn't make a sound when I went in there. He'd have had no time, no warning that he needed to hide before I appeared. Besides, who'd be fool enough to stick around hiding in there? I'd've thought their first instinct would be to run."

"You're quite sure the place was empty when you went in?"

"Nick," she said firmly, "there was no-one in that room when I went in, there is no-one in there now and, according to you, nobody left in the beef moment I was out."

"Well then, my Carrots, the answer is simple: they used a different exit."

"But there aren't any other exits!"

"How can you be so sure, Hopps? I thought old castles like this were famous for their secret doors, trick bookshelves and chandelier activated doorways."

"Huh. You've been reading too many ghost stories."

"And you're too quick to judge. Why be so dismissive of the supernatural, Hopps, when science doesn't even know-"

"Alright, look, before we change subjects drastically let me just say this. Firstly, science knows science doesn't know everything, otherwise, it would stop. And second, just because science doesn't know something, it doesn't mean you can just 'fill in the blanks' with any old mythical fairytale, horse manure, pre-civilization, mumbo jumbo that takes your fancy!"

The fox blinked at the rabbit. The rabbit regained her composure.

"Was there a rack down there?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"In good racking order?"

"I didn't get the chance to find out. I wouldn't be surprised though." The fox nodded at her. "Alright, Nick," she asked, "so who was the dead frogman, the Newfoundland? I don't remember any mention of him in the mission beefing."

"Nothing to do with us," Nick said, "just a waterdog wanting to get his paws whet. Clearly somebody else thought otherwise, and decided to torture him to find out. They said the body was found three miles away, but I checked the strength of the current with my little paper boat, and there isn't nearly the strength to carry a body that distance. The body was dumped there."

"How charming," she said, glumly, "and the point of it all was~ "

Crossing the room, Nick came to the edge of the bed and sat down, close to the rabbit. "It's all to do with the price of fish," he said.

"Fish?"

"Well, you must have heard of the latest fishing crisis in these parts. The fishing industry is one of the mainstays of ergonomic life up here in the Highlands, not to mention a vital food resource for dozens of predatory species, like the brown bear, down in Zootopia."

"So what happens if it falls apart?"

"For one, it'll mean hundreds of Highland fishermammals going bankrupt and having to move out of the North, and for another, it'll mean the prices of fish will rocket, down in the Lowlands."

"But what happened to all the fish? They all just... disappeared?"

"Or have been driven away."

"But why? Surly SIS wouldn't send us here just to protect some fish. What's the point of it all?"

"Look, Hopps, the Iron Curtain between Zootopia and Zistopia is hanging by a razor's edge at the moment. With a little push in the right place it could go either way and instead of having a Cold War on our hands, we'll be a real war."

"What? How's the price of fish and few disgruntled sailors gonna trigger open war!?"

"With the fish being driven away, our trawlers are having to fish in deeper, unprotected water in competition with all the other fleas... and that bites. Not everyone can compete. That means unemployment, that means a rise in the price of fish, that means hunger and starvation in the poor areas, that mans an angrier population, a more strained government and a more hostile attitude towards foreign powers. And when our, so called, 'Honorable Opponents' see we can't even afford to keep our own people fed, it might be the last little push they need to pluck up the courage to finally be out with it and attack!"

The fox paused as he allowed the information to sink in. "It may not appear it Fluff, but it really is all a very delicate ecosystem. In this time of fear and unrest especially, all it takes is a little push, and the whole thing could come tumbling down."

"So if we mess this up~ "

"It'll be the end of life as we know it, yeah." The fox stood. "I hope your head feels better soon. See you at dinner, Hopps."

The rabbit stared down at the floor, not even taking in what the fox just said as the door swung shut, thinking only one simple thought. ...and they decided their best bet was to rely on a fox and a bunny to hold back open war? We're screwed.