Chapter 6: The Raid.
Robby crossed the street to make contact with the T.U.S.K team as they were exiting the back of the van, Jessy was already there being briefed on their part of the intrusion into the building by chief Polaski.
"We're going to take the front entrance, she just entered the building so we should be able to catch make the arrest without too much resistance, assuming our numbers are correct on who has been in and out, we shouldn't be making more than forty arrests tonight, Officers Elmore and Willow, you'll be following us in the building after the entry squad clears out the first two rooms, you must stay behind us at all times, we are geared to deal with armed hostiles and you are not, do I make myself clear?"
"Yes sir", both Robby and Jessy answer at the same time.
"Once the first two rooms are cleared we'll be making our way through the main warehouse, this is a very dangerous area so you two will not be going through until you're given the all-clear, we have helicopters inbound to give us a birds-eye view through the skylights, if they give the all-clear to the T.U.S.K squad you'll be given the all-clear to move in, is that understood?"
"Yes sir", They answered simultaneous again.
"Once you have been granted access to the warehouse, we expect Bellwether to held up in the foreman's office at the top right of the building, we will attempt to confirm this with the helicopters, if not you will be given shoot-on-sight authority for anyone that gets in your way, you two will stick together and work as a team to clear every room in the building, if Bellwether attempts to make an exit we will be outside ready for her, so unless that happens it will be all up to you two officers, now I'd much rather have the T.U.S.K squad take care of bellwether but we'll need them to detain the larger and more threatening mammals, if she was a larger mammal, rest-assured you wouldn't be within fifty feet of this building Elmore, but since she's just a little sheep I feel like you can handle it, now get prepared and be ready to make your entrance, both of you".
"Sir yes sir", Robby and Jessy walked away from the chief to prepare themselves, they saw the T.U.S.K squad preparing their entry into the building, but just as they were getting ready to walk over the chief called over to them.
"Officers, make sure not to shoot yourselves in there", it was the chief's rather mocking, if still kind-hearted way of saying stay safe, and it made Robby feel a bit better about the situation.
Robby and Jessy were approached by the leader of the T.U.S.K squad a large warthog in an all-black armored ZPD uniform, and was given one last briefing before the raid was going to begin, "Ok, you guys have been briefed by the chief right?"
"Yes sir" Robby said with enthusiasm.
"Yep" Jessy looked back at the chief, as if she was trying to remind herself what she had to do and looking back was going to jog her memory.
"Good, so you know that until we give you the all-clear to look around the back areas of the warehouse, which will only happen if the VIP isn't holed up in the foreman's office."
"Yes sir" They said together in unison once more.
"Good, we're about to go in, so prepare yourselves officers, this could get a bit frisky very fast", Robby and Jessy looked to each other for comfort, knowing they were willingly about to enter a live fire zone was more than they had ever expected for the case, they were hoping the worst they'd have to do would be dragging Bellwether from a sewer, but this, they knew that it could be their last moments so they tried as hard as they could to savour every last second before having to enter the building.
A few moments later, the first T.U.S.K officer, another large warthog in an all-black armored ZPD outfit just like all the other T.U.S.K members, made the first breach, "Freeze ZPD" He screamed as he threw the door open and launched a flashbang grenade through, then backed off to let it detonate before they made their entry.
They made their way in with a mad rush of shouts and pointing guns, they managed to subdue three mammals in the opening office of the building, two rams and a weasel, then they took their time to enter and clear-out the proceeding rooms after the opening office, each time they did this a very loud and commanding shout would come from the room "Clear" they would scream, and they took their time to make sure the rooms were clear, and once they were they regathered in the office to prepare for their next entry.
"Ok officers you're clear to move in", came through on Robby and Jessy's radios, with that they made their way into the office, as they did they witnessed the previously subdued mammals being taken outside for further questioning and then to be shipped off to jail.
"When are we going in for the VIP?" Robby inquired with the squad leader, but was busy commanding the rest of the T.U.S.K squad to prepare for their entry into the main warehouse, so he ignored him and carried on preparing his officers.
"Once that chopper is in position and we get the all-clear we will be going in hard, keep your heads down and prepare for incoming fire from the catwalks, hopefully we'll be lucky and the majority of the perps will be on ground level" Robby raised his voice to get heard by the squad leader.
"Hey, when are we going in?" The squad leader turned to Robby with an annoyed look on his face.
"Be patient officer, like I explained outside we need to clear out the main warehouse before you're cleared for entry, I know it's annoying to be standing around waiting for so long but it's necessary for both your safety and ours, we wouldn't want you getting yourselves into trouble so one of ours gets shot saving you now would we?" with that remark the squad leader received a radio transmission from the helicopter team, they were confirming the situation inside the warehouse.
"We have eyes on three mammals on the catwalks, looks like they're all timber wolves, as for the rest they all appear to be workers, so as far as we can tell you have heavy civilian activity in the building, but we can't confirm anything else so stay vigilant, we will be keeping an eye out but there are some major obstructions below the catwalks"
"Roger that Heli team" The squad leader put his radio back to his shoulder and walked over to his officers to transfer the information over to them, while he was busy ordering his men Robby and Jessy were talking over there next moves.
"I have a bad feeling about this one Robby, this isn't your run of the mill criminal, Dawn Bellwether is cunning and manipulative mammal with links to the ZPD and the government as a whole, it wouldn't be too far a stretch to assume that she could know we're coming for her" Jessy was seeming more and more worried by the second, seemingly made this way due to the lack of any real resistance as of yet.
"Yeah, I'm not feeling good about it either, I mean, it says in her files that she despises predators, enough so that she was willing to drug them and cause a massive lockdown on predator activity, why the hell would she have wolves working for her? It makes no sense, in fact why would wolves even want to work for her? Before we head in I'm gonna go ask the detainees some questions, I'll be right back", and with that Robby left Jessy in the office, but quickly turned around to say "Call me when we're going in", and then he continued walking on to ask the wolves they just arrested some questions.
"Hello sir, may I quickly take your name and ask what you were doing in this warehouse today?"
"I ain't saying nothing cop, I aint a rat"
"No, you're a wolf, we're in Tundra Town not Little Rodentia, I wasn't asking your species I was asking what the hell you were doing here tonight, now depending on how you answer me you can either help your case or guarantee you get jail time, you wanna speak now?"
"I didn't do nothin', you got nothin' on me"
"Actually sir, we have you in the same building as a known criminal who recently escaped from prison, that's a charge for harbouring a fugitive, that along with the fact that there are multiple illegal weapons in the building leads me, and trust me, any judge that looks over this case, you and your buddies here were doing it willingly, meaning you will get a lot of time, not even considering the weapons charges we'll get you on, however, I'm giving you a chance to clear your name, tell me, why is Dawn Bellwether hiring predators to protect her?"
"Dammit fine, I never liked her anyway, just tell me you'll get me off if I tell you what she's doing?"
"If you're willing to testify in court you'll be considered a witness and even be given a chance at getting into witness protection, depending on how much useful info you have"
"Ok Ok, she's planning to release that night howler garbage to the streets as a drug, from what I've heard its way different to what it used to be, its supposedly slow reacting and takes days, even weeks before it has an effect"
"Damn, this isn't good, how much does she have?"
"I dunno exactly, something like three or four warehouses full"
"What?!"
"Yeah man, that stuffs gonna be hitting the streets in no time"
"Where are the other warehouses? Tell me!"
"I dunno man, you're lucky I even knew that, I overheard it the other week and kept my mouth shut, I've seen what she does to snitches and it ain't pretty, you better get me in witness protection or I'm as good as dead"
"Yeah yeah, wait here I need to speak with my higher ups about this", Robby walked away from the wolf, but quickly told another officer not to let him be taken away until the chief gets to him, after that he went back to the unmarked van looking for him, he went to the back of the van and found the chief staring at some old CRT monitors, clearly outdated but working. "Chief, we have a big problem"
"What is it Elmore?" The chief took off a pair of headphones and turned to Robby to hear what he had to say better.
"I was just questioning one of the suspects and I managed to get him to tell me about Bellwethers plan, she's been building up huge amounts of a new night howler drug that's going to be sold on the streets as a recreational, but has an extremely delayed effect that can take days or even weeks to have the main effect on the takers, which leads me to believe…"
"…She's going to try and get it sold in poorer neighbourhoods, mostly populated with predators, and turn them all savage, dear god this isn't good, how much does she have?"
"Four or five warehouses full of it sir, according to the wolf."
"Where are they? We need to get to them and shut them down immediately"
"I don't know sir, the wolf only told me the amount, not the locations."
"Then we need to get Bellwether immediately, sorry Elmore but this isn't your case anymore, we need to guarantee she's taken in and I can't have you and officer Willow putting yourself in this situation, especially considering she has access to the night howlers, which you don't have protection against."
"But sir, this is our case, we did all the work and…"
"I understand Elmore, but it's too dangerous, I'm sorry, but consider yourself off the hook, our little deal is done and you're not going to be stuck on meter maid duty for the rest of your career, just stay out of the way on this one" Robby took a sigh of relief at hearing he wouldn't be stuck as a meter maid, but he was also angry that he wouldn't be able to finish the case, "Thank you sir, I'll go get officer Willow and alert her of the news"
"I'll radio it in to her, go home and get some sleep Elmore, you deserve it"
"Thank you sir", Robby stepped out of the van and started heading towards his cruiser, he undid the straps on his body armor to relieve himself a little bit. Robby felt saddened and defeated, knowing he wouldn't be the one to make the arrest in the case of the century, he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep that night.
Just as he reached his cruiser Robby noticed something out of the corner of his eyes, smoke, huge puffs of blue smoke coming from the helicopter, and with that he knew something awful was about to happen, he called the chief on his radio to alert him but before the chief could respond the loud sound of the helicopter moving down at a very high speed burst through the eardrums of everyone within the city radius, it was the loudest crashing sound you could imagine, finishing with the sounds of the helicopter rotors spinning the blades into the ground hard enough to both break the concrete and shave the blades down to a nub, Robby ran over to try and help but as he got closer he saw a sight he didn't expect, rather than the lifeless corpses of his fellow officers, he instead discovered the raving movements of multiple, seemingly savage leopard officers, raving around scratching at the windows and growling loudly.
Robby knew exactly what had just happened, and that's what frightened him the most, Bellwether had created a weaponised version of the night howler formula in a gas-based weapon.
Robby tried to get to the helicopter as fast as possible but it was too late, it blew up taking the savage officers with it, a huge puff of fire and smoke blew grew above the helicopter with a deafening explosion, Robby feel down with the explosion and got slightly knocked back by it.
"Oh my god, she's crazy, I need to take her down", Robby ran past the helicopter to get to the van and see if the chief was ok, as he approached he could hear a lot of shouting coming from inside, it wasn't just him, it was coming through his radio. "Chief, what the hell is going on?"
"Elmore, I wasn't quick enough, the T.U.S.K squad had cleared the warehouse and let officer Willow in, but they've been locked in and the room is filling up with gas, all I can hear on the other side is screaming and, I hate to say this but I think they've been turned savage by the night howlers"
"Yeah, from the looks of it Bellwethers created a night howler gas, before the chopper went up I could hear really loud growling coming from it, I'm sorry sir, there was nothing I could do, the chopper blew before I could even get close to it"
"You did all you could Elmore, these officers will be praised as heroes, but right now we have no teams equipped to go it, and we only have one gas mask available, Elmore, I know I said I didn't want to put you in danger but right now we have no other choice, are you willing to put on this gas mask and enter the building, right now all we can do is arrest Bellwether, if you're willing to I'll make sure you have a medal by the end of this."
"Sir, you don't have to convince me, I'm going in there"
"Do not screw this up Elmore, you would not be going in if I had any other choice, but officers from all over Zootopia have been called in and first response won't be for another 15 minutes"
"Yes sir", Robby strapped the gas mask to his face, luckily it fit him pretty well and was designed for mammals with long snouts, as he did he got double checked by the chief to check for gaps, even a single breath could turn him savage at this point.
"Ok, I'm going to continue monitoring the situation from here, if you believe yourself to be in too much trouble leave immediately, if you turn savage there's no guarantee we'll be able to get you back out of there safe"
"Sir, I'm not leaving that place without Bellwether in custody"
"Good, now get in there, you have an entrance from the side door straight into the building, be careful".
"Sir yes sir", Robby once again left the unmarked van and headed towards the warehouse, he wasn't worried anymore, just angry and filled with adrenaline, he was ready to do what was needed to save the day and finally bring in Bellwether.
As Robby walked to the side entrance he noticed that the gas was already pouring out, the door was open, and he knew he'd have to try and seal it shut when he went in, otherwise he would risk the savage officers escaping and causing havoc in the city, and he did, he opened the door, slammed it behind him and sealed it shut with a metal bar, it wasn't a perfect seal but the drugged mammals wouldn't be able to get out, and that's all that mattered.
"Where are you hiding Bellwether?" Robby was speaking to himself to remain calm, his vision was very blurred due to the thick smoke, he knew he had to find a way to clear the place out, "Don't places like this usually have industrial air filtration systems?" Robby pondered on how to find and activate such a thing if it's even possible, or even exists.
Robby made his way through the building but he knew he had to get higher up to get to grips with his new environment, so he decided to climb up some large shelves to get to one of the lower hanging catwalks that appeared to still be covered in smoke, but lesser so than the lower areas, he climbed up once shelf at a time, making sure to be extra careful, he didn't want to fall and risk losing his mask in such a volatile situation.
Once he reached the top of the shelves he had to make one final reach for the catwalk, being as short as he is it was just about reachable for him, and with all his energy he managed to drag himself onto the platform, he rested for a few seconds to catch his breath, the gas mask was making it more difficult than usual to breathe so he wasn't as athletically sound as he would usually be.
After Robby finished catching his breath he rose to his feet and tried to get a better view of what was below him, and to his horror, it was complete carnage, the entire T.U.S.K squad had reverted to primal beasts, running around all floors, screeching and squealing loudly, ramming their heads into walls and attacking anything in sight, along with the civilians that were supposed to be escorted out, there were sheep, wolves, pigs and goats, running around on all fours, attacking each other and causing complete mayhem, Robby wanted to help them but he knew he couldn't, he'd be eaten alive if he even tried.
Robby noticed the absence of one animal that he expected to be causing the most havoc out of all of them, a rhino. Officer Willow was nowhere to be seen in the carnage below and Robby took huge breath of relief, "Maybe she made it into the back and got away from the night howler gas", Robby knew if she was in the back that meant she may have already detained Bellwether, without a second to lose he sprinted in the direction of the foreman's office, noticeably void of smoke, its door leading to the back area was open which lead Robby to believe the back areas where sealed off from the smoke.
Robby made his way into the foreman's office tracking in as little smoke as possible, he made his way through the open door into the back areas and decided to risk taking off his gas mask, it looked completely clear and he wanted to have as much visibility as possible in the darkened hallways. The hallways Robby was in was filled with doors on opposite sides of each wall, these clearly led into small offices, Robby checked each one individually, while looking for both Bellwether and Jessy.
It was nearly five minutes of constant searching before Robby even found a sign of life in the form of two mammals shouting, it sounded like Jessy and an unfamiliar voice, Robby figured that Jessy found Bellwether and was reading her the Miranda rights, he raised his weapon just in case and made his way towards the shouting.
As Robby made his way into the office, prepared for anything, he found himself in shock at the sight he came across, Bellwether and Jessy were arguing, and all Robby caught was Jessy saying "You said no one would get hurt". Robby ran into the room weapon raised.
"Freeze ZPD!" Robby screamed at the top of his voice, both Jessy and Bellwether were visibly shocked by Robby's sudden entrance, but they both turned to him and suddenly they weren't shocked, they seemed complacent, in-fact they seemed happier at him appearing.
"Robby, how did you get in here?" Jessy said, she started walking slowly towards him.
"It doesn't matter how I got in but I'm glad I did, you were working with her the whole time? It makes no sense, you didn't even try to throw me off the trail, what do you even gain from this?"
"Robby, come on, of course I didn't throw you off the trail, it was inevitable that Bellwether would be arrested but she made me an offer that would benefit both of us."
"And that is?" Robby took a step back and pointed his gun at Jessy, causing her to stop in her tracks, as he did this Bellwether jumped off of a seat and made a move towards Robby"
"Becoming detective is all officer Willow here ever wanted, she gets the arrest of the century weeks after applying to become a detective, and when she does become a detective, I have one of the city's finest working for me, I need someone sent to the inside with few questions? Officer Willow can have it done, I need a particular snitch in witness protection found? She has the information I need, however as you can probably tell that's all useless now."
"Useless? Why?"
"Is the exploded helicopter and warehouse filled with savage mammals not big enough of an indication? This turned from me handing myself in peacefully and getting out in 10 years with good behaviour into a slaughterhouse, and I don't even know what's going on anymore."
"You didn't do this? Then what the hell happened?"
"Honestly officer, I don't know, it appears my lack of chemistry skills meant that my new night howler serum reacted badly with something else in the warehouse.
"Then how did the helicopter go down?"
"The air conditioning must have sent some of it straight out of the roof into the helicopter, it's the only way I see it happening", Robby pointed his gun at bellwether, and started switched back and forth between them both.
"Either way, it doesn't matter, you're both going to jail for a very long time", Jessy started walking towards Robby again, clearly not frightened by him and his gun.
"I don't think that will be happening Elmore, it's been fun but you're clearly not gonna be bought out or join in on the plan, so I'm gonna have to kill you", With that Jessy launched herself at Robby, who attempted to take shots at her but she was so fast he missed her twice and hit her once on her body armor, she rammed her head into him as hard as she could, her horn only just missing his lower stomach, and going off the side of him it still sent him flying into a wall behind him, Robby using the dark to his advantage crawled away into the darkened hallways.
Jessy recovered herself and started searching for him, however she had difficulty seeing in the dark, something that Robby had over her and could use to his advantage. "Robby, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you, come back to me and we'll hug it out", Jessy seemed deranged, she was shouting out to Robby to try and intimidate him, it wouldn't work.
Robby had managed to do a full loop of the offices and snuck up behind Jessy, he knew his weapon wouldn't be strong enough to take Jessy down, Rhino skin is thicker than body armor, however, it he managed to shoot her in the head he figured he could knock her out cold and use the few minutes he had to cuff her before she woke up, he counted to three in his head, turned the corner and fired furiously at Jessy, who was walking away from him looking for him in the darkness, out of his seven shots, five hit, and as expected Jessy slammed into the floor, Robby didn't have time to check if she was alive or not, and at this point he didn't even care.
After he finished cuffing her he made his way back into the office, Bellwether was sat down seeming to be rather displeased that he walked in instead of Jessy. "Well, that was unexpected".
"Shut up, you're under arrest, put your hands behind your head" Bellwether stood up and reached behind her head.
"Officer, be reasonable, surely there's something you want that I could make happen, my connections run deep in this city, you could be the chief of city central within a year if I say so", Robby walked closer to Bellwether, getting angrier with every word she said.
"There is nothing you can offer me, you being put away is all I need".
"Very well officer, take me in", Robby grabbed Bellwethers arms, restrained her and put her in cuffs, it was finally over, he read Bellwether the Miranda rights and called in the arrest to the chief, after around ten minutes of waiting a flurry of officers from all over Zootopia's separate precincts flooded the building, they managed to clear out the smoke and restrain all the savage mammals, Robby explained the situation with Jessy and Bellwether to the officers coming in to escort them out of the building.
As they left the building the chief noticed that Jessy was in cuffs and barely conscious, Robby had forgotten to tell the chief that she went rogue and was working with Bellwether the whole time, the chief, after being told what happened had a look of shock and disappointment on his face. Polaski walked up to Robby to check on him "How are you doing Elmore?" He asked.
"Not too good chief, took a big hit in there, think I broke a couple ribs"
"Well your alive and that's all that matters, get yourself to the medics, get yourself fixed up and be ready, we're going to give a press conference tomorrow, if you can stand then you'll want to be there, as the lead officer on this case you'll need to give full accounts to the media".
"This was a hell of a night sir",
"Yes, it was Elmore, thank you for doing what was necessary, you will be rewarded for this?"
"Rewarded sir?"
"Well, City Central is still looking for a detective and their top priority just got arrested, you may not have the experience but you have the capabilities, it might take a few more months to go through but you'll be making detective Elmore, if you're willing of course, being the first fox detective would be very good for the ZPD's image, never mind that you started a week ago."
"Sir, there's nothing I'd like more than to be detective, but a week is nowhere near enough experience, surely you know this?"
"Six months Elmore, you keep up this good work for six months and you'll be detective."
"You're not kidding about this, are you?"
"Elmore, I never joke, now get out of my sight, you need to get patched up"
"Thank you, sir,"
This is my biggest chapter yet, and no, this isn't the end of the story, or even the end of the first act, in fact we have one more chapter of this act then we're heading on to the Judy and Nick parts I promised, I realise this feels like a climax to a story but it isn't, the main focus of the story was kicked off in the chapter, and from this point forward it will be getting darker, and darker, you'll probably notice how it transfers later on but for now, lets focus on ending act 1 with a nice cooldown chapter, which should be done within two days.
As usual thanks for reading, feel free to follow and favourite, and reviews are always appreciated!