Just to inform you, this is the concluding chapter of this story. There will, however, be one final chapter after this one, just to wrap everything up, give credit to the original creators and explain anything that might be ambiguous in the reader's mind. Let me know if you have any outstanding questions as to the plot and I'll do my best to answer it. Mister Smail.


The sun touched down upon the horizon; the Laird of Castle De'ath paced slowly across the empty miles of marshland and moor around the castle grounds.

Coming to a stop before the edge of the loch, Ian stopped and gazed down into the clear waters. He never saw fish in these parts anymore. He remembered, when he was a cub, diving into this lake with his father, catching and eating the raw fish.

Signing bitterly, he bent down and picked up a pawful of stones. Nowadays, he rarely ever saw one fish, his father had passed on, and he couldn't bare the company of cousin a day more - leaving him the last of Clan De'ath to live in the halls of Castle De'ath.

Taking one of the stones, he threw it towards the lake, watching as it skimmed lightly across the water's flat surface, bouncing several times before disappearing beneath the black water with a plip.

...

In the basement of the walled-off east Tower, Nick Wilde stood with his rifle still pinning Roderick McKern to the spot - Robert still unconscious somewhere down the corridor.

"How long do you think you can keep this up, MacWilde?" McKern asked, stubbornly. "McGnab will be coming down in a few minutes, and when that happens-"

"And when that happens," Nick said, smoothly, "You are just act like I'm not here and nothing's happening... or I'll put a bullet in your brain."

"You wouldn't," Roderick said, "you're bluffing! I know your kind, and you'll never pull that trigger on an unarmed mammal."

"Oh," Nick said, grinning, "you know my kind, do you? You know about all the years I spent working for the Kray twins in The Firm? The people I killed, murdered, assassinated - for money or for fun? You feel you know I won't pull the trigger, do you? Well, good luck with that. For your sake, I hope you're right."

The feline stared at the fox, his face slowly contorting into an expression of ill-concealed terror. He wasn't to know the only true part of that was that Nick had been in The Firm, and Nick smiled, realizing his bluff - of which he had been called bluff on - had still pulled off regardless.

Leaning back against a console, carbine rifle still trained on the feline, Nick spoke: "What do you mean you 'know my kind' anyway? You been in this business long? Who are you working for; who hired you?"

"I... McGnab is-"

"McGnab is not the one in charge here," Nick said, "and I know for a fact that it isn't just one of the De'aths either. It's someone bigger, watching over us like a puppet master pulling with his strings. Who is he?"

"Professor Moriarty," McKern shot.

Nick snorted. "Fine," he said, "be like that. But tell me this, which De'ath is which? Which one is in charge, and which doesn't have a clue what's going on?"

"You'll find out soon enough," Roderick said, grimly, "why don't you just wait 'til then?"

Nick's ear pricked up to attention. He may not have had the rabbit's sense of hearing, but he knew when footsteps were approaching down a staircase from somewhere up the path before the feline did.

Stepping back into the shadows of a large cabinet near the corner of the room - the gun still fixed on McKern - Nick raised the finger of a paw against his lips in the gesture for silence. "Now remember our agreement," Nick said with a wink, "not a word from you until I'm ready, and I don't blow your brains out against the wall."

Roderick's face tightened with fear further still; the fox chuckling mutely as the feline turned and face the control panel he was stood beside, staring down at the controls without moving or making a sound, turning to the door as it swung open a moment later as the overbearing frame of McGnab paced in.

"Evening, Roderick," the badger said.

"McGnab. It's not often we see you down here."

"Nor me, either," Nick said, stepping cheerfully out from the shadows.

McGnab started back in surprise for an instant and then made as though to leap for the fox, but the presence of a rifle suddenly pointing him in the face was enough to put him of and, with a look of tensile defeat, he raised his hands into the air alongside Roderick.

"You can put your hands down," Nick said, "no-one here's going to get hurt."

"Would you mind explaining precisely what it is you want?" demanded McGnab.

"I was just curious about your little set-up here," Nick explained, causally - as though this was just a nice little chat and the gun he was holding didn't exists - "a do-it-yourself submarine pen, is it?"

"So you found out? May I ask how?"

"Vibrations," Nick said, "you see, the bagpipe playing can drown out the sound of the generators but not the vibrations."

McGnab darted to grab the fox; Nick sprang back from the large badger nimbly and pointed the gun up into his face.

"My swim in the moat helped me too," he continued, slowly distancing himself away from the two, "that bug plughole in the side of the moat especially. The submarines come in from the open seas underwater, come into the loch, then into the mote through a secret channel, and then into the flooded pens. Then you pump the water back into the moat again."

The fox backed away into the doorframe of the room, shooting a pearly-white smile towards the black expression of the badger. "One thing I'm still not sure about," he added, "how do the submarines frighten the fish away? An ultrasonic beacon mounted to the front?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," McGnab said.

Wilde smiled. "I should think very slightly better."

The fox heard rapid footsteps approaching from behind. Turning in the doorway, he raised the rifle and aimed it at the feline who was trying to sneak up behind him. Robert - who had recovered from his encounter with Judy - stopped dead in his tracks as the fox faced him. But then, with the fox's rifle no longer on him, McGnab leaped into action, throwing the fox effortlessly to the floor with his enormous weight and snatching the rifle from his paws.

McGnab handed the rifle to Robert, then bent down and lifted the fox to his feet by the scruff of his neck. "I would very much enjoy putting a bullet in you, Mister MacWilde."

Nick managed to force a faint smile, his legs dangling three feet off the floor. "But the wee hole would show on the body."

The badger grimaced. "You're an astute mammal, MacWilde, but then I suppose that's the way with most of your kind. Now, if you'll excuse me, fox, I have an appointment with Black Jaime; a date with De'ath."

Smiling, the large badger lowered the fox to his feet and paced out of the room. Nick watched on, able to do very little to fix his current situation, the rifle which had been his until but a moment ago, now in the hands of the feline; currently poking into his neck.

...

Judy Hopps darted up the staircase and down another corridor, her ears pricked attentively upright as she listened out for Ian De'ath. Nick had asked her to confront the De'aths and, while it was easily possible if she had them both together, trying to get one and then the other was too risky - she knew where Angus was and could confront him, but if he managed to warn Ian what she had done her life would be in danger.

She had to wait until both De'aths were together; then she could spring out on them with her gun at the ready, and be sure that neither were able to get away or try anything.

Angus De'ath, she knew, was upstairs in the drawing room, drinking from a large decanter of brandy and muttering swearwords under his breath - from what the rabbit could make out, the badger had just been kicked out of the castle.

But where the Laird, Ian De'ath, was right now, the rabbit didn't have a clue... which was a problem, considering that, as the Laird, it was most likely Ian who was behind it all.

Judy turned down another corridor further, still looking for the badger. So many rooms in this place, she thought, maybe if I...

Without warning, the sound of ghostly piping started playing and echoed down the long corridors. The rabbit's ears pricked up she turned towards where the sound was coming from. A sly smile broke on her expression. She knew now that the pipes were played in the east wing... and she had found more than one secret entrance into the bricked-up tower while looking through her book.

Finding Ian can wait... it's time this ghost was laid to rest.

...

In the bowls of the east Tower control room, Wilde flinched back uncomfortably as the muzzle of a rifle waved back and forth in front of his face.

"The submarines are heading out in three minutes," Roderick said, "you'd better take MacWilde down there, Robert."

"Our orders were to wait until we had the rabbit too," Robert said, holding the gun against the fox's neck.

"We don't have the time for that," said Roderick, "we can't keep waiting forever."

"I would be in favor of waiting," Nick said, aware that being 'sent down' involved being tied up to a submarine and tugged out to sea underwater... without a breathing mask.

"Of course you would, Wilde," Roderick said, "now come along, Robert, the subs go out in less than two minutes. We send him down now or never."

"Och, very well," said Robert. "Here, take the gun, I'll take MacWilde."

The fox's gaze brightened as the gun was taken away from pressing against his neck, watching intently as Robert handed the gun over to Roderick. Wilde took a deep breath as he made himself ready and, the instant Robert's finger was away from the trigger, he sprang into energetic action.

Throwing himself at Roderick, the fox tussled for control of the gun. Robert made to grab the fox from behind, but Wilde let out a reverse kick into his stomach, and the feline was sent stumbling back against the wall.

Twisting his arms suddenly, the fox prised the rifle from Roderick's grip. He slipped behind the feline with foxish speed, put the rifle length ways across his neck, and pulled tight, strangling Roderick with the rifle.

"MacWilde," Robert cried, "release my brother!"

Nick grinned. "Very well," he said, "consider Wodewick Weleased!"

Taking the gun away from the feline's neck, the fox kicked him harshly in the back, sending him stumbling across the room and falling against the main control panel, pressing the large and obvious red button in the middle.

An alarm rang out, both felines turning hurriedly to the monitors of the submarine pen as water started pouring in and flooding the place.

"The seacocks, there opening!" cried Robert.

"But the equipment," shouted Roderick, "it hasn't been secured yet; they'll sink and be shorted out!"

"Quickly, get the crew over here; they'll sort the fox and his rabbit out. They can't win out over fifteen to two."

"Can't," Roderick cried, "the pen's are flooding; their trapped on the other side!"

"What a pity," Nick said, smiling at the McKerns from the doorframe, "all your little boats are flooding out. Still," he added, making down the corridor"going rather well for me, ay?"

"Get after him, Robert!"

"Don't be a fool, Roderick. He's armed; we're not."

Nick chuckled as he heard this, jogging up the staircase and out of the east tower as he sought to find Judy.

...

In a long and grand corridor in the upper floors of the east Tower, Judy Hopps paced silently - calmly - towards the source of the ghostly piping: a closed door at the end of the corridor. The playing music was growing closer.

A self assured smile on her face, she sat smoothly down upon a chair as she waited for the approaching sound of the piping.

A moment passed. The rabbit crossed her legs, casually. Then the door at the end of the hall swung slowly open, and the ghostly piping of the lament of Black De'ath stepped through - the tall and wide figure of a shrouded badger stepping in, playing a pare of bagpipes as he walked.

"A personal appearance tonight, hey, Black Jamie?"

The shrouded badger turned, startled, at the sound of Judy's voice, stepping into the light with a look of startled panic.

"My mistake," Hopps said, smoothly, "I mean... McGnab."

"I... you..."

The rabbit raised her eyebrows; the towering frame of the badger dropped the pipes to the floor and reached into his waistcoat for a gun.

Judy sprang swiftly from her chair and dove between the badgers legs as he pulled the handgun from his pocket, kicking out at his knees from behind the badger and dropping him onto all fours.

The rabbit grabbed one of his feet and twisted it viciously, turning the badger onto his back before she stepped closer to him and kicked the gun from his hand.

Snarling at her, McGnab threw his weight into standing up again. Judy tried in vain to pin him down - her paws pressing down on his shoulders - but the shear weight of the large badger overpowered her and she found the situation reversed as McGnab's large paws took firm hold of the rabbit around her waist.

Lifting her off him, the badger raised the rabbit into the air before throwing her down onto the ground. The rabbit rolled and recovered unharmed, but being thrown like that was very dangerous for a mammal her size, and she wanted to avoid it happening again.

Lurching towards her, McGnab made to garb Judy a second time, but the rabbit dove aside and grabbed him by the ankle as he passed, sending him falling into the chair she had sat upon earlier and breaking the legs off.

McGnab picked up a leg and hurled it at the rabbit which she managed to dodge but only just. He picked up another piece and hurled that, and the rabbit ducked it as it flew overhead. Then the badger picked up and whole chair and hurtled it towards her.

Judy had no choice but to dive to the floor to avoide being hit, and by the time she had stood again McGnab was upon her, grabbing her around the waist from behind and raising her into the air again.

Judy twisted and managed to grab McGnab's wrist, prying it away from her as she struggled to get herself free. Her insistent twisting payed off, and she slipped from the badgers grasp to the floor.

She fell awkwardly - but with less force than if she'd be thrown down at least - and she was unable to regain her balance before McGnab gabbed for her once again.

This time he took her by her foot, raising her of the ground as she swung and twisted vivaciously - but to no avail. She twisted herself, swinging her arms and her free leg but she was unable to free herself.

His paw clamped tightly around the rabbit's foot, the mountain of McGnab paced hurriedly to the staircase at the top the main hall... to the inside balcony which overlooked a two-story drop onto harconcretete. A grim smile crossed his face.

Seeing her fate, the rabbit redoubled her efforts to get away, seeing only one surefire way of freeing herself from his grasp. It was a dirty shot and Judy didn't much like resorting to that kind of thing, but right now it was more important she freed herself and so, scowling furiously, she let out her hardest of kicks into McGnab's...

A moment later Ian De'ath burst in through the front door to see what had caused the drawn-out cry of pain. He raced into the main hall and saw Judy stood on the top of hte stairs, with McGnab, who was on the floor, paralyzed by pain with his hands clutching at his goolies.

Judy spotted him and made hurried down the staircase towards him, pulling a handgun from her pocket as she closed on him.

"What in God's name is going in here, Miss Hopps?!" Ian demanded, backing from the rabbit with a look of panic, "Have you gone quite insane?"

"We know what you've got set-up here, Ian," Hopps said, "and we're here to shut it down."

"But Miss Hopps, I really have no idea what you're talking about!"

"I do," said Angus De'ath, appearing at the top of the stairs and hurrying down to join the rabbit with a loaded crossbow in paw, "you've been against the idea of letting the public into the castle from the moment we first mentioned it. I've known all along you've been hiding something."

"What are you on about, Angus," Ian said, Angus getting closer and closer to the rabbit with every step, "you know damn well why. It's the tradition-"

"Och, enough with you and your 'traditions'! If you hadn't been so against the idea of letting people in, I would never needed to get involved in the first place." Anugs reached the bottom of the staircase beside Judy, "I've put up with you long enough, Ian, and now, I will Laird of Clan De'ath!"

Judy turned, startled, to the badger now stood right behind her. Have I been wrong all along? Her answer came sooner than anticipated, as the badger grabbed the gun from the rabbit's paws and hurled it across the room. Without delay, he leveled the loaded crossbow at his cousin.

"Angus?" Ian said, backing with terror against the wall. "No, Angus, no!"

Angus fired; the crossbow bolt struck home deep inside Ian De'ath's chest, and the badger clutched at his chest in pain for an instant, and then his body went slack and he stumbled backwards to the floor.

Judy stared at the corps on the floor in shock for an instant. Angus took this instant to grab the rabbit by the throat, squeezing hard and lifting her up against the wall.

Judy clawed at the badger's hands but he was too pumped with adrenaline to even notice. The rabbit tried to fight back, but the strength was already draining from her, even as her vision blurred and the world turned dark.

With a loud bang, a bullet shot over the badger's head. "Take your filthy hands off my Judy!" Nick shouted, racing into the room and hastily reloading the rifle, "That one was a warning shot, this one wont be."

Angus dropped the rabbit and she fell, crumpled, to the floor - gasping and gagging for breath but alive at least. He leaped towards the fox and grabbed for the rifle before the fox could reload, taring it from his grip but dropping it himself, sending it tumbling down the staircase beside where the rabbit was wheezing and coughing.

Drawing an arm back, Angus made to punch the fox across the face; Wilde ducked and the paw sailed past overhead, smashing into the wall.

Nick grinned at the cry of pain, but then his smile fell as Angus noticed that the corridor was decorated wall-to-wall in medieval weapons.

A fowl grin spreading on the badger's face, he grabbed a board, Highland Claymore off from the wall and advanced on the fox, laughing as he swung the hefty weapon back and forth, forcing the fox to retreat up the corridor.

With a cry the badger raised the two-handed weapon up over his head and lurched for the fox. Nick dove aside in the last instant and Angus dashed past, stopping at the end of the corridor, turning, and gazing at the fox like a bull gazes at a sheet of red.

The fox looked into the badger's expression. "Oh, crap." As the badger charged, Nick turned-tail and fled down the long corridor, reaching the balcony at the top of the stairs and throwing himself of the edge.

The fox leaped the two story drop and landed heavily on the dining table - the centerpiece of the De'ath family - rolling onto his side, winded, trying to catch his breath as he turned to see what Angus would do.

Angus, rather than skidding to a stop like Nick had hoped, charged on. He pelted from the edge of the parapet, claymore still in hand, and threw himself across the distance at the fox.

Nick swore as he pulled himself off the table which broke into shards as Angus De'ath landed upon it. Nick crawled away form the the table - still winded from the fall, worried his leg might be broken and in no position to fight back as the badger kicked a shard of table aside.

The badger stamped down on the fox's trailing leg as he tried to crawl away, grabbing him by the arm as he called out in pain and turning him onto his front.

Only now getting her breath back, Judy heaved herself onto hands and knees. She turned to Nick, injured, pined to the floor, and her eyes turned white with worry.

Angus grinned down at the fox. He raised the claymore high above his head. Nick winced back from the blow to come, and then...

Bang!The sword flew from Angus' hand and he recoiled sharply, clutching at his bloodied arm as he turned to snarl at the rabbit.

Judy darted to help her fox, throwing away the discharged rifle she had armed herself with and rushing to help pull the fox to his feet - his leg apparently just sprained.

With a cry of final desperation, Angus charged towards the fox, knocking him into Judy, passing them like pins and a bowling ball as he charged past.

Judy dashed to chase after him, the fox on his feet and following close behind, forcing his burnt-out body to make this one final push for victory.

"Quick," Judy shouted, "the iron maiden, it's a secret entrance to the east wing!"

Fox and rabbit charged after the fleeing badger as he came to the metal door at the top of the steps which lead down to the basement. Flinging the door open, he slammed it shut again into Judy's face, and the rabbit was knock to the floor with a cry; a stream of blood ruing from her nose.

"Hopps!" Nick cried.

"I'm fine," Judy said, trying to stand as she wiped at the blood form her nose, "get in there, Nick, go!"

The fox obeyed, throwing the dungeon door open and darting down the steps, reaching the floor and rounding the corner just in time to see Angus as he pulled open the door of the iron maiden, glancing back to the fox with a laugh of final triumph. Before Nick could react, the badger threw himself into the maiden and the door swung shut behind him.

"Aruugh-"

Nick's pace slowed to a stop. He gazed at the iron maiden for a long moment, then turned to the rabbit as she hurried down the staircase, nose still bloodied, and made to pass him.

"Hurry, Nick," she said, alert, but clearly in pain, "if we're quick we might-"

Nick held out a paw to stop her. Not saying a word, the fox made sure the rabbit stayed put before walking slowly towards the silent iron maiden.

Pacing up to it gingerly, the fox opened it up a tiny crack. Nick cringed back from the sight, shutting the door hastily as he backed away from from the scene. The fox backed away again and stood beside the rabbit.

"You said it was a secret entrance," he said, slowly.

"It is," Judy insisted, making towards it, "you just-"

Nick's paw stopped her. "Then... it's jammed."

The rabbit processed what the fox had said for a moment; then her eyes slowly widened. "Oh..."

"Come on, Hopps," Nick sighed, uneasily, "I've seen enough, let's get the heck out of this creepy old place; we'll let SIS run cleanup." The fox turned and limped from the room, taking Judy's paw in his he lead her away from the morbid scene.

After helping clean the rabbit's face of the blood, Nick phoned their handler at the Secret Intelligence Service and called for a pickup. Soon after, a SIS team turned up and the fox took Judy home - far away from the empty and lifeless halls of Castle De'ath - for good.