The Zootopian Chronicles II: Darkness

by Menser

The Protectors: They came with promises of safety and protection from all the threats facing Zootopia but what if the greatest threat is The Protectors themselves? Nick, Judy and their Furless friend must forge an alliance with old friends and Legends from Zootopia's dark mysterious past to save their city and world against these invaders from within and new otherworldly threats.

16. Can't See the Exit for the Trees

Can't See the Exit for the Trees

Finally we find out what happened to our favorite foxes. Something tells me they have had quite their fill of communing with nature. We find out the fate of the other teams sent on the mission and hopefully get a few more clues about the mysterious flying object. However as these things go many times the answers you get lead to many more questions. Will Finnick ever see his new lady love? Will Nick ever see his bunny buddy? Well let's find out. Oh and wait to get your mind blown by the end of the chapter.

I apologize for the delay in putting out this sizable chapter. There were a lot of issues related to the device the foxes found to be worked out. But never fear during these delays two other future chapters were nearly completed as well as several upcoming scenes. Hopefully we can start pushing toward all the exciting things to come.

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Zoodate: 118-121 P.C.

As they slowly trudged through this endless forest creeping along on the way to hopefully meet team Ground1, the hairs on Nick's neck and the tips of his ears gave him the familiar sense that something was watching them. The extreme senses of the fox had kept his ancestors alive for eons and he was hoping those same senses may help keep this modern fox alive as well. As he glanced to his left at his smaller fox friend he could sense the uneasiness in his friend as well.

Nick: nervous "You sense it as well?"

Finnick: annoyed "Fucking unnerving."

Nick: grinning "Maybe it's Ground1 having a joke on us."

Finnick: "Maybe its the fucking Cheerpaws waiting to ambush us and giving us a good tongue lashing. That is about as likely."

Nick grinned thinking about that wonderful dream he had right before all hell had broken loose in West Plant. He had told Finnick of course. Finnick always appreciated his stories of that nature and he hadn't had any real stories to tell him in so very long. Well until the other day. He got a warm feeling thinking of that unexpected twist of fate. He sure wished he was sharing a locker room fantasy with those Cheerpaws right now instead of waiting to be attacked any moment in this godforsaken damp depressing wilderness far from any civilization. What he wouldn't do for a Bug-Burga right now.

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Finnick had stayed to guard the strange metal device they just called a UAV (Unidentified Air Vehicle) while Nick had taken off at top speed following the tracking device back to their ORV. This only made sense as Finnick would be far better in a physical confrontation and staying hidden while he could make far faster time without his little buddy to slow him down. He loved Finnick like a brother, but his short legs could not keep up when push came to shove. Nick always appeared to be slow and lazy, but that is because he was saving his energy and speed for the times he really needed it like now. Carrots always gave him grief for being lackadaisical, but when she needed him to move he was always right with her. As he flew through the underbrush slipping through branches at breakneck speed he was not holding back now. He knew he needed to get back to Finnick as rapidly as possible in order to get far away before whoever owned the strange craft they had captured decided come claim their property. Based on the evidence that mammals were disappearing regularly in areas where these devices appeared, he didn't believe they would act so kindly to having their property taken.

Nick found their vehicle in thirty minutes as he had made a beeline directly for it at full speed and he quickly packed up the panels and took off at the fastest safe speed possible driving toward his tiny fennec friend who was hopefully just grumbling and angry and not in serious trouble. Again Nick wondered how the two foxes had found themselves in this situation. They were scam artists and the only thing they had scammed in days was their own bellies trying to convince them that the rations they were eating were a delicious meal. Leave the secret agent crap to secret agents. No amount of money was worth dying over. He always knew it was always best to walk away with your hide intact than to keep pushing a scam that could mean getting caught or killed. He had ignored this device when he sold the skunk butt rug to Mr. Big and it almost got him turned into a block of ice, and likely would have if Carrots hadn't earlier saved Mr. Big's daughter FruFru. Sometimes his mischievous nature could get him in trouble and cause him to do some things just to amuse himself. He just had to be a lot more careful who he did those kinds of things to in the future. Sometimes he had to be himself, but he would have to learn to restrain himself. He even thought he had picked the perfect mark in Furless, and that had nearly permanently damaged his relationship with his best friend. He had to admit to himself that occasionally being a sneaky sly fox was not always the best thing.

As he finally made his way into the familiar clearing he headed toward the landmark to take him near the mechanical device and nearly ran over a small figure with large ears.

Finnick: surprised "Watch where you're going cocksucker! No wonder I don't let you drive."

Nick: grinning "You're a bit hard to see."

Finnick: "Took you long enough."

The two foxes used the winch to help pull the UAV behind the ORV and tied ropes to other end and created a pulley system to haul the heavy device onto the back of their vehicle and spent a long while tying it securely as the thought of having to repeat this again was painful. Once the device was secure, they took off traversing directly to the north. It was dangerous driving at night as the lights from the ORV were limited, but fortunately the foxes had excellent night vision expanding the range. They knew they needed to get as far away from this location as fast and safely as possible. Both foxes kept a close eye out for any more strange mounds as they didn't want a repeat performance of their earlier mishap as getting trapped in a pit now could cost them their lives.

After about twenty minutes they began to feel it. Both their fox senses felt the eerie sense in their bones that they were being watched as the hairs on their necks stood up straight.

Nick: "How much charge do we have?"

Finnick: "70%."

Nick: "Think we can get 100 kms before we run out of juice?"

Finnick: "Doubtful… fucking extra weight is gonna limit the range."

Nick: grinning "Guess we shoulda gone on a diet."

Finnick: "Speak for yourself fatass. We need to shed weight as soon as we stop."

Nick: "I hope you weren't attached to that porn collection of yours."

Finnick: "It's yours motherfucker."

Nick: laughing "Oh that's right."

Finnick: "The human ever wonder what you wanted with all those magazines about foxes from the human world?"

Nick: "I doubt he knew what I used them for. He probably thought I was curious about my ancestors or something."

Finnick: "Just hope your partner doesn't see all the ones with dead rabbits. Fucking disturbed me as well."

Nick: "I pulled out all those pages. They ruined my boner."

Finnick: "Just hope they never see that shit in Bunnyburrow. Damn rabbits are scared of us enough as it is."

Nick: "Well I will try to drop as much weight as I can on the next stop."

Finnick: "I think the fuckers are just watching."

Nick: "They may be waiting for us to stop."

Finnick: "Good thing Judy reminded you to bring that whole arsenal, we may need all of it."

Nick: "How long to the rendezvous with Ground1?"

Finnick: "Probably not until late tomorrow. Hopefully we can reach them in the morning during our the window."

Nick: "Well I hope Ground1 has some eye candy."

Finnick: "You think they were gonna send some hottie on a mission like this in the wilderness. That lynx scramble your fucking brains as well as your balls?"

Nick: grinning "A guy can hope."

Finnick: "I just hope we just fucking live to see them."

They made it eighty kms before they began to run out of juice and found a reasonable defensible position in which to camp as a large tree had fallen and they were able to park behind the tree and detach and install the solar panels to best pick up the sunlight that had just started to peek through the branches. Fortunately the panels auto adjusted angles for maximum sunlight exposure. Nick armed himself with his taser, tranquilizer and wasp spray. Finnick had his knuckle duster and Betty handy and ready for battle. The two foxes climbed on top of the fallen tree to keep a close eye on the surrounding area and then attempting contacting the other ground teams. After a few minutes they heard something.

Ground1: "Ground1 here. We read you Ground3."

Nick: "Ground3 here do we really need to use these ridiculous call signs?"

Ground1: "It is only us here so I guess not."

Nick: "Much better. Where are you guys?"

Ground1: "We found part of Ground2 so we are a bit delayed."

Nick: "Did you say part?"

Ground1: "Looks like the other part was taken."

Finnick: "Motherfucker!"

Ground1: "What was that?"

Nick: "My colleague was a bit upset by that news."

Ground1: "Yes... we will discuss it later. We will plan on meeting you at the secondary position to the north of the original rendezvous."

Nick: "We may have company. Pretty sure we have eyes on us."

Ground1: "Shit. Nothing we can do from here. Try calling at the evening window if you can. Good luck Ground3."

Nick: "Understood."

Nick understood they were on their unknown against an unknown potential hostile force. It was not a good feeling. He had Finnick keep his eyes and sharp ears open for any movement while he checked to make sure the panels were charging. The next task was to go through all their equipment and determine what was not worth keeping to reduce their weight. Out went the dirty extra clothes, cooking equipment and any food that required cooking. They were going to have to survive on ready to eat rations from now on because of the danger of discovery from a fire. Truth be told he wouldn't mind shedding every scrap of clothing but didn't think the little fennec would agree with that fashion statement. Finnick told him to try and get some rest while he kept guard and he pulled out a sleeping bag and rolled it out behind the ORV where it was dark and slipped inside. While he thought he could relate to a lot of what the primalists offered, he found sleeping gear, beds and blankets quite preferable. Before he could think on this further he closed his eyes and instantly went to sleep.

After what seemed like a minute he felt something nudging him in the side.

Nick: whispering "You see something?"

Finnick: "Nah your lazy ass has been asleep for four fucking hours."

Nick: "No way. I just lay down."

Nick checked and thought Finnick had been messing with him but it said four hours had passed and he could now see the sun was much higher in the sky.

Nick: "Thought you had played a trick on me."

Finnick: "Sure, you like my trick of moving the goddamn sun?"

Nick: chuckling "Would be a damn good trick."

Finnick: "Fucking bugs are starting to drive me crazy."

Nick now started to notice a lot of bugs, ticks and fleas were starting to make their home in his fur and he jumped out and started to ineffectually shoo them out. He then searched around in the bags for a kit he remembered for just this situation.

Finnick: "What are those?"

Nick had pulled out little pieces of flexible reddish orange plastic and attached them with clasps around both his ankles, both his wrists, his neck and the base of his tail.

Nick: "Little help?"

Finnick: "You fucking serious?"

Nick: "You want the bugs gone?"

Finnick: "Fine. You mention this to anyone and you are fucking dead."

Nick: laughing "Deal."

Finnick helped fit the ring around the base of Nick's large bushy tail so it was flush with his butt and attached it with a fastener. Nick then helped Finnick with his own tail while the fennec attached similar smaller tan rings around his ankles, wrists and neck. Nick then pulled out a spray and sprayed the fennec and himself all over. He sprayed inside his shirt and under his armpits and then pulled his pants down and sprayed him all over below as well. Finnick insisted on doing his own spraying under his clothes.

Finnick: "This stuff supposed to get rid of all these fuckers?"

Nick: "Yeah, supposed to encourage all these bugs that fur is not the best place to take up residence."

Finnick: "Fair enough. Shitload of them to evict."

Nick: "Sleepy time little one."

He could sense Finnick had an angry retort coming but the fennec decided he was too tired to argue and slipped inside the sleeping bag still wearing his brass knuckles and holding Betty next to him. Nick grabbed some cricket bars, a bottle of berry drink and his arsenal of weapons and climbed up on the end of the fallen tree leaning his back against a branch so he was partially upright and surveyed the forest.

As he listened carefully he realized the forest was a bit too quiet. Usually there were sounds of birds and insects but there was only the faint sound of an occasional insect buzzing and a rustling of leaves when a slight gust would blow. He slid down from his perch and hid behind a large tree focusing his acute hearing and smell trying to pick up anything out of the ordinary. After several minutes he realized he was not sensing anything and allowed himself to quickly munch on some of the cricket bars and wash them down with some berry drink. He was hungry and needed to have as much energy as possible in case he needed to flee or fight. He looked into the sky and saw the sun overhead and checked the charging status and saw that it was over 60%. He knew he needed to wake Finnick in a few minutes and make some good time so they could charge up fully again while there was still daylight and drive as much as possible during the night. After another tense hour of silence he woke Finnick up and they packed and took off directly north making as good a time as possible.

Nick was glad to be out of those particular woods and was keeping a sharp eye out watching the surrounding the wilderness and glancing behind them from time to time. The trip northward was fairly uneventful and they stopped after about 80 kms and began charging up in the brightest area they could find in order to max out their charge for an evening journey. Nick kept watch while Finnick slept as the little fox was running on a larger sleep deficit and was worn out from so much driving. Nick woke Finnick before their evening call and they attempted contacting their other teams to get a progress report. After a couple of minutes they heard "Ground1 Here. That really you Ground3?"

Nick: "Yep. We managed to not be eaten or swallowed by the woods."

Ground1: "What is your position?"

Nick: "About 140 kms south of the secondary point."

Ground1: "Good. We should be there sometime tomorrow around midday."

Nick: "We should have a full charge before tonight and hopefully we can make it most of the way there driving through the night. Should be able to make it there early in the morning after a brief charge."

Ground1: "Good. Just be careful."

Nick: "We will. I am quite fond of my fur the way it is."

Ground1: "We will have a better idea on the ETA during the morning window."

Nick: "Sounds good. Any more info on Ground2?"

Ground1: "Unknown. Still MIA. Nothing we can do now."

Nick: "Could use some friendly faces for a change. If I see another tree again it will be too soon."

Ground1: "Know how you feel. Can't wait to see what you found."

Nick: "Can't wait to know what we found."

Ground1: "Same. Until the morning."

Nick: "Ground3 out."

Nick didn't care about seeing a hottie in Ground1. At this point he would be happy seeing a warthog, mole rat or this elephant seal thing he heard about as long as they were on his side. He could also sense the temper of his little fox friend was at a razor's edge and so he wasn't trying to goad him as much as he usually would. The battery was charged to maximum just before they ran out of sunlight and they packed up the panels and checked their package to make sure it was secure. Both foxes had constantly been scanning for any smells or sounds that might indicate any danger, but everything seemed normal now and the prickling feeling of being watched had seemed to abate. They took off heading north into the night at a careful pace taking a conservative path to avoid any potential trouble.

Nick: concerned "All good Fin?"

Finnick: frustrated "Just can't wait to get the fuck out of this place."

Nick: "Can't argue that one. Even desk duty is better than this."

Finnick: grumbling "I shoulda asked for a lot more money."

Nick: "Well at least you met a hottie."

Finnick: smiled thinking of Shannon "The only fucking good thing out of all this."

Nick: "You rather have the money or her?"

Finnick: "Fucking not putting any price on her."

Nick: "Must be in love buddy."

Finnick: accepting "Maybe."

Nick: "Never heard of something not having a price for you."

Finnick: "I'd sell you cheap right now."

Nick: laughing "Wouldn't doubt it."

Nick: "Wonder what Carrots has been doing?"

Finnick: "Having fun with the human?"

Nick: "Way to bring my mood down."

Finnick: "Why the fuck does he like you so much?"

Nick: "Think he has something for this bushy red tail."

Finnick: "Couldn't be your fucking personality."

Nick: "Spiteful eh."

Finnick: "Bah woods are making me that way."

Nick: "I know buddy. Me too."

Nick: grins "You don't think the human has something for minks do you."

Finnick: "Only if he likes dying."

Nick: laughs "So you not gonna double date?"

Finnick: "I just want a date. Fuck that."

Nick: "So I shouldn't expect to see much of you once we get back?"

Finnick: "No idea. When did you get so needy?"

Nick: "Can't a guy want to hang with his buddy?"

Finnick: "Fuck man where were you all this time. I finally find someone and now your want to fucking hang out."

Nick: "Good point."

Finnick: "We'll see. No idea what is next."

Nick: "Well just hang on to what you have once you finally find it is all I gotta say."

Finnick: "No worries about that."

Nick: "I imagine not."

Nick thought dark thoughts the rest of this leg of the journey in these dark woods which matched his dark mood. His dour disposition was not helped by the apprehension about what this strange metal device meant for the future of Zootopia or what might have happened in his long absence. He had not been away from Carrots this long since he had first met her except the month she away on the human Earth. Nick was sure that the human was watching over her like a hawk as he was extremely protective, but the human could be naive and didn't understand all the dangers of Zootopia like he did.

After a couple hours they could feel the charge start to die. They had made quite a significant distance and were within 10 kms of their rendezvous point. They found a good defensible position for their camp behind a rock and some brush. They setup the panels to hopefully get a quick charge in the morning and grabbed some quick rations. Finnick setup first watch and Nick sprayed the inside of the sleeping bag with insect repellent and crawled inside and went instantly to sleep once his head hit the pillow. He was awoken after what once again felt like just a few minutes, but had apparently been most of the night. It was disconcerting sleeping without any dreams as normally Nick had very vivid dreams, and he could only surmise that he was quite stressed and exhausted. He set his alarm for the contact window in less than an hour and planned to let Finnick sleep through the communication and wake him after they had a brief charge and were ready to go.

At the communications window he attempted to connect with his other ground teams and got no contact. He continued trying to contact them even up to five minutes over the window and still got nothing. After considering the possibilities, he hoped that they had just forgotten the window which the foxes had done on a few occasions themselves. Nick didn't relish any more delays in escaping this wilderness nightmare. As he watched the sun come up, he checked that everything was charging properly and counted down the minutes until the charge would reach the safe 20% level they needed to make it the final distance. Finally the signal reached the magic yellow charge zone and he packed the panels and gently woke his fox friend and they took off heading toward the rendezvous.

Finnick: curiously "What did they say?"

Nick: frustrated "Got no answer."

Finnick: "Fuck! What do you think happened?"

Nick: "Probably scared of you."

Finnick: "Makes sense."

Nick: "I can see us show up and find their bodies all waiting there torn to shreds."

Finnick: "Well I am not stopping if they are."

Nick: "Good call."

Finnick: angrily frustrated "Fuck these woods!"

Nick: "How do you really feel?"

Finnick: "I would need to invent some new words."

After almost 30 minutes they approached the landmark. In the distance the could make out an enormous ancient pine tree standing atop a gradual mound to the northwest of their position. As they arrived at the base of the mound, they circled around the mound a few times in wider circles checking for anything that looked out of ordinary, and finally came back and parked at the bottom and set up the panels to start the charge. Nick and Finnick fully armed themselves and grabbed some drinks and rations and climbed to the top of the mound. Each fox came armed with binoculars and searched the entire area around the mound especially looking to the west where they thought their fellow agents may be arriving from.

Once they got bored looking around, they took turns checking out the western section of the woods while the other relaxed enjoying the sunshine and gentle breeze blowing from the south. Nick was thankful for the breeze as most likely anything potentially hunting them would come from that direction, and they would be able to smell it in advance. If it actually had a smell. Looking at the strange piece of metal technology attached to the back of their ORV he was unsure.

As the sun passed over the midpoint of the sky, they realized the other ground teams were late. Based on the lack of their earlier communication and the way things had gone out in the wilderness, Nick was not especially surprised by this.

Finnick: "If they don't show how long do we wait?"

Nick: "Maybe a few more hours. We need to go as far as we can tonight and hopefully we can make it out tomorrow."

Finnick: "Would have been fucking nice to have some company."

Nick: "Well looks like it is up foxes to save Zootopia once again."

Finnick: "Save it from what though?"

Nick: "Good question."

Finnick: "Who will know?"

Nick: "Hopefully Furless. I believe he worked with stuff like this in his job on the human planet or at the very least he might know."

Finnick: "This thing human stuff?"

Nick: "Looks like it. Nothing like anything of ours."

Finnick: "You trust the cocksucker?"

Nick: "Yes. If it is a threat to Carrots we can. He would choose her over humans in a second. He would do anything for her."

Finnick: "Well I can understand that."

Nick: "Awww you understand 'wuv' now?"

Finnick: "Fuck you. Maybe you will someday."

Nick thought to himself that yes he did understand. He understood the human's motivations now. All his actions up to this point now made complete sense even his love for this sexy fox. The human's actions could now be predicted and calculated, but they were allies as they had similar interests. But the human's motivations had been more self-sacrificing than his own, and he was embarrassed by this now. He was beginning to understand that true love requires self-sacrifice and thinking of someone else's interests even above your own. Nick had been required to only think of himself for so long surviving on the streets. He had to do this to survive, but he was slowly learning that love required you to ignore that instinct sometimes. Finnick putting the little mink above money fully demonstrated he was actually capable of that same self-sacrifice and for the idea of something greater than oneself. Something Nick would never have believed possible. But he now also realized that Finnick's feelings for Tala were the same, and he had really misjudged his little buddy all these years.

Nick went down the hill and checked the panels, and found they had been fully charged and he began to put the panels away. As he was partly done he heard a shout from up on hill.

Finnick: excitedly "See something coming."

Nick: "Friend or foe?"

Finnick: "Not sure."

Nick quickly finished putting the panels up and started the vehicle up preparing for a fast getaway if this was a hostile force.

Nick: "Ready to go."

Finnick: "Can't see anything yet. You know what makes up those teams?"

Nick: "No idea but there should be three."

Finnick: "See the cocksuckers now. Only see two."

Nick: "Maybe they got hungry and ate the other."

Finnick: "And maybe I grew half a meter since we've been out here. Looks like a raccoon and a squirrel."

Nick: "That has to be them. Who better to send into the woods with all the trees."

Finnick: "Well we better prepare just in case. But doesn't sound like a deadly duo."

Both Nick and Finnick hid behind cover waiting for the vehicle coming their way. They could see a similar vehicle to their own ORV coming over the rise heading cautiously toward their position. Nick could see the raccoon excitedly pointed toward their ORV and the squirrel headed directly for it. They parked behind it and got out and started looking around. Nick also smelled another scent. He could pick up a feline smell… male… an ocelot. It would have been a bit difficult to pick one out, but he knew the scent from a few days ago. Nick decided to step out from his hiding place fully armed and ready to rumble with his wasp spray behind him. He put on a big grin and walked up to them announcing "Call sign?"

The squirrel was startled and ran up a nearby tree instantly. The raccoon took a defensive stance and then saw Nick and relaxed a bit. The raccoon said cautiously "Ground1… yours?"

Nick responded with "Ground3… and…."

The raccoon looked confused and the squirrel came down from the tree and joined the raccoon announcing "He means Ground2… well half of Ground2."

Nick relaxed and walked over and shook the raccoon's and squirrel's paws with relief informing them "Nick Wilde. We were unsure if you would show. You have no idea how good it is to you see you guys."

The raccoon responded, "Same. Sorry we had some troubles with a wheel and were delayed. I'm Samuel Prickles and this is my partner Rudy Chatterson. You said we?"

Nick indicated a small form appearing from behind the tree on the mound, "My partner and good friend Finnick."

Rudy: questioning "Just Finnick?"

Finnick: "Finnick Fox if you wish."

Samuel: "Oh okay. Our friend Reggie is in the back here. He was hurt so we had to bandage him up and give him some painkillers which knocked him out."

Samuel pulled a cover off the back of their ORV to reveal the form of an ocelot with bandages on his legs and one of his arms and paws. Samuel checked on him and the ocelot seemed come to as they unstrapped him and he sat up.

Reggie: woozily "Whoa… how long was I out? And who are you guys?"

Rudy: "I think four hours. This is Nick and Finnick… Ground3."

They helped Reggie get off the back of the cart and gave him something to lean on as all five moved over to the foxes ORV and examined the reason all three teams were in these woods.

Samuel: curiously "Any idea what it is?"

Nick: "It is mechanical and seems to have wings and rotors to fly and maneuver in place. It also has a lot sensor devices and cameras."

Rudy: "Never heard of anything like this."

Nick: "We need to have our human friend check this out."

Reggie: surprised "You know him?"

Finnick: shocked "You don't fucking recognize us?"

Rudy: "Of course… I do. These are the two foxes from that whole Covenant thing."

Samuel: "Ah yes… so yes that is why you know him."

Rudy: excitedly "I wonder if the human can introduce me to Judy Hopps. I have always wanted to meet her."

Nick: "Oh why?"

Rudy: "My family and I are from Bunnyburrow."

Finnick: pointing his paw at Nick "Talk to him."

Rudy: wondering "Oh why?"

Nick: "I'm her partner."

Rudy: confused "I thought she wasn't in a relationship."

Nick: annoyed "On the ZPD."

Rudy: embarrassed "Oh sorry. I forgot… I remember something about her being on the force with a fox. Strange days that is for sure. It must be so amazing working with her. You are so lucky."

Nick: smugly "I think she is the lucky one."

Rudy: confused "Huh? Oh you must be kidding… fox humor. We all follow the cases she solves."

Nick: annoyed "Oh yeah I am just there for window dressing."

Rudy: eagerly "Well I would love to meet her. She is such a hero to all us little guys."

Reggie: "Well don't you think you should be charging the vehicles while we are yapping."

Finnick: "We are fully charged."

Samuel: "Ah we can use all the solar panels and use your vehicle to charge ours while absorbing energy so we can fully charge ours in half the time."

Finnick: excitedly "Well why didn't you fucking say so!"

The fennec immediately started yanking solar panels out and the others helped connect the batteries and all the panels.

Rudy: nodding toward Finnick "He want out of here fast I take it?"

Nick: "He has a hot date he doesn't want to be late for."

Samuel: "Oh… Good one… more fox humor."

Nick: "Nope. Finnick doesn't kid about dates."

The other three looking at him with skeptical looks, but finished setting up the panels and then all climbed to the top of the mound and Rudy scurried up the tree with some binoculars and called down from above that he would keep a lookout for them.

Nick: "Ah now I see why all three of you guys are perfect for the woods."

Reggie: "Yes we have climbed hundreds of trees each since we have been out here."

Samuel: "Also we don't take up much weight and are fairly good at hiding."

Reggie: "Don't mention hiding."

Nick: curious "What's up?"

Samuel: "It's a sore spot. He was up a tree hiding keeping watch and his partner disappeared."

Reggie: "Carlos was just looking around the grounds just about 50 meters from my position and then he just vanished. I tracked his prints to a point and he was just gone with no other tracks."

Nick: "No drag marks? No scent?"

Reggie: "Nothing. He just vanished. I searched for him for two days."

Nick: "Maybe he had a hot date like Finnick."

Samuel: shocked at such an inappropriate joke "Really?"

Nick: directly "I gotta be me."

Reggie: despondently "What am I going to tell his wife?"

Samuel: putting his paw on his arm "You did all you could."

Nick: "Hopefully the answers are in the metal flying thing."

Samuel: "But who can get the answers out of it?"

Nick: "I am afraid we are going to have to depend on the furless ones."

Reggie: "But what if they are the ones doing it?"

Nick: "But why? It makes no sense."

Reggie: "How can we trust them?"

Nick: "There is one of them we can trust."

Reggie: "How do you know?"

Nick: "He is my friend and he has a stronger reason than anyone to protect Zootopia."

Reggie: "What is that?"

Nick: "Just trust that I know his heart."

Reggie: "Well then lets get this to him as soon as we can."

Samuel: "We can get this out tonight."

Nick: "I thought it was 230 kms outside our range."

Samuel: "We can stop partway and dump the rest of the charge from our vehicle into yours so it can get there before morning so you can call it in. We will catch up with you later."

Reggie: "Rudy can go with you. He is very light."

Nick: "He is okay being with… predators?"

Samuel: "He's never had a problem with us once. He is a pretty fearless little guy."

Reggie: "And the best climber you will find."

Samuel: "Also a decent driver."

Nick thought if a bunny could be his best friend and another like a sister to Finnick, then he supposed a squirrel could work with two foxes. Although he wouldn't be much good as a lookout at night and not much of a night driver.

Nick: "I have no problem working with a squirrel but I would think we would need one of you two if we are doing a night drive."

Samuel: "The fox has a point."

Reggie: "Which one then?"

Samuel: "I suppose me because I can drive and am not injured. I just hate leaving Reggie and Rudy."

Nick: "We will send people as soon as we make it out."

Reggie: reassuring "We'll be okay Sam."

Nick informed Finnick and Rudy of the plan, and the whole group packed up and rode out at a fast pace with Finnick in the lead. The little fennec seemed quite determined to get out of the woods as soon as foxily possible. After approximately 30 kms they found the main northern road out of the wilderness and were able to increase their speed significantly. After about 90 minutes they found the campsite where they had met the elk couple what seemed many weeks ago but was actually 9 days ago. They stopped and charged up both vehicles with the remaining couple hours of daylight getting them both to around 95% before darkness fell. While the foxes had made the campsite on one charge coming in they were on a lower charge and were carrying additional weight with the UAV and an extra passenger. Also with the extra charge they could travel at a faster pace, and be out of the woods by around midnight, and get some backup immediately. Nick knew the Mayor had planned on having backup agents stationed near the woods after they had been in there for about six to seven days. Finnick relented and let Samuel drive to the halfway point where they would dump the remaining charge. While Finnick was desperate to get out of the woods, Nick knew he was exhausted and sore for the constant driving. They setup a makeshift seat for him in between and above the raccoon and the red fox and attached the seat to the cargo rack of the ORV.

For the first time since the met the primalists, Nick had started to feel better. Sure he was exhausted, hungry, sore, dehydrated and so many other things, but he could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Once he got a call out to the mayor's people he had a special call to make. He had the phone in his pocket waiting for civilization and cell reception. It was also great to actually be with other mammals finally even if he didn't know them. But he knew they were allies and they had been through the same suffering he had. While he loved his little buddy, he had never spent so much time with him, and Finnick was not in the best of moods most of this entire trip. He still would not have wanted to do it with anyone else but Carrots, but in truth he was a bit thankful his fennec friend would be a bit distracted when he got back.

They were able to drive at quite a fast pace with the raccoon being an excellent driver in the dark. He saw that Samuel really seemed to liven up once it got dark. He might have to give this guy a call and go out for some night clubbing with him sometime whenever he actually had time again. Nick noticed that Finnick had nodded off, and was thankful his little buddy was able to get at least a few hours of sleep as they were about to be very busy in just a few more hours. Once they got to a 50% charge they pulled off, and Rudy and Reggie attached their charger and reversed the charge loading almost all of it into the ORV. The groups wished each other farewell and promised to send support as soon they got out. Nick setup the squirrel and ocelot with his phone and contact information and they said goodbye.

Finnick seemed to have renewed energy and was driving almost like a demon possessed. He had a certain number memorized, and had a phone call to make the instant he was out. Nick had a similar phone call to make. The return trip seemed to take forever, but finally after nearly two hours they began to make out civilization in the distance, and Nick dialed his phone the instant he got signal bars. After a few seconds he connected with the government dispatcher and they had connected him to Mayor's support team. They sounded incredibly excited to hear from him and said they would contact the Mayor and would meet them at Pine Adventures Rentals office which was located at the end of the woods near the trail. Then Nick made the call he had been waiting 10 days to make. He heard the call going through for what felt like forever and finally the beautiful very sleepy image of a furless creature appeared on the screen.

Drew: sleepily "Nick? Nick… is that you?"

Nick: grinning "Miss me?"

Drew: desperate "Oh God Nick… you have no idea how much."

Nick got a chill down his back and his fur stood on end. He knew the human quite well and he sounded like he was desperate to see him. What the hell had been going on while he was gone? Had something happened to Carrots? No there was movement behind the human which had to be her."

Drew: looking away talking to something "Nick are you alone?"

Nick looked up at the raccoon sitting above him. The raccoon seemed to be staring intently at the road and the outer images of civilization.

Nick: "Sort of… you can put her on."

Instantly the image of the bunny appeared on the screen below the human.

Judy: overjoyed "Oh Nick! I can't believe it is you. What happened?"

Nick: grinning "Never seen so many faces so happy to see a fox. It is a long story. The main thing is I have something Furless needs to see immediately."

Drew: shocked "You actually find a piece of a UAV?"

Nick: "We have no idea what we found but we have it complete."

Drew: confused "Complete? How are you able to carry it back?"

Nick: "It is smaller than what you thought."

Drew: curious "And you need me specifically to see it? It is of human origin?"

Nick: "We don't know. I need you to tell us."

Drew: "I'm on my way."

Drew handed the phone to Judy and moved off screen and a light could be seen behind them which Nick knew was the bathroom and he heard the shower start to run.

Judy: excited "Oh Nick you have no idea how good it is see you are okay."

Nick: grinning "Things that bad at the office?"

Judy: confused "The office? No… nothing like that. Just that… there are so many things going on."

Nick: "Bogo do something? We have to go to some stupid training or something?"

Judy: distracted "No Nick… nothing to do with work."

Nick wondered what the hell would have both the human and his best friend so worked up. Well he would hopefully get to the bottom of this soon.

Nick: "Well it may be a couple days before I can get back to work as I imagine we have a lot of questions to answer."

Judy: "That doesn't matter. When can I see you?"

Nick: "I wish you could come with Furless."

Judy: "Me too. I desperately want to come. But that would look really bad."

Nick: "Hopefully we can all get together this evening."

Judy: "Grab a bag and come over here. You can sleep in the guest room and we will feed you."

Nick: grinning "You giving me permission?"

Judy: obviously "Hush. Of course."

Nick: concerned "What the heck is going on?"

Judy: "It will take too much time. Take care of all the stuff for the Mayor. It is top priority. You have no idea how top priority it is."

Nick: concerned "Carrots?"

Judy: "I will explain later. Drew will be there with you soon and he can fill you in. He is ordering a Priority 1 vehicle now."

Nick: "Priority 1?"

Judy: "You know how Flash drives?"

Nick: "Yeah."

Judy: "Imagine that the whole way there."

Nick: astonished "Damn who is driving."

Judy: talking off to the side "Drew who is driving?"

Judy turns the phone to show the human who is pulling on some pants and searching for a shirt and tossing all kinds of electrical devices into a bag.

Drew: "They had Mario Antready standing by for this kind of situation. He will be downstairs in five minutes."

Nick: "Antready?"

Drew: "He's anteater with a penchant for driving like a maniac. The vehicle even has a roll cage."

Nick: "What is that?"

Drew: "I just hope I don't get to find out how good it is."

Nick: "We are arriving at the drop off location. We may need to meet you en route."

Drew: "I will have Mario connected with the Mayor's guys."

Drew gives Judy a brief kiss and gently rubs her head.

Drew: "I'm out the door. See you soon. Call me on the government phone. I will leave Judy this one."

Judy: "Just you and me now partner."

Nick: "You have no idea how good to is to see that fuzzy face."

Judy: "Back at ya."

Nick: "I never thought I would even miss seeing Bogo."

Judy: "Sounds you had a rough time of it."

Nick: "Just a bit too much nature. I'm a city fox born and bred."

Judy: "I have a pile of paperwork for you to fill out."

Nick: "Hmmm, maybe the Mayor can find something else for me to do."

Judy: chastising "You're not getting out of it."

Nick: relenting "Fine, bring it home to your place. I'll do it there. After a long session in the hot tub."

Judy: "Want anything special?"

Nick: "If Furless can make those fish and chips things it would really hit the spot. No more crickets."

Judy: "I think we still have a batch in the freezer he can make."

Nick: "Have to go. I see the reception committee."

Judy: smiling "I'm so glad you are okay. How is Finnick?"

Nick turned the phone to show the little fennec intensely driving toward the reception committee.

Finnick: "Doing just fine here bunny."

Judy: "I'll call Tala now and let her know you are okay. She has been driving me crazy asking about you."

Finnick: "Tell her I'll call her this evening."

Nick turns the phone screen back to himself.

Judy: "Can you tell me what happened?"

Nick: "Will have to find out what we can say at the debrief. I will try and get you approved."

Judy: "Thanks. I would like to hear the story from you and not by pulling stuff from Drew."

Nick: "I have a feeling he will be busy thinking. We're here now. Bye."

Judy: "Bye."

Nick reluctantly ends the call and puts the phone into his pocket.

There was not a mystery where to drive to as the way ahead was filled with three large black SUVs with flashing lights and a large black van. As they parked and were surrounded by the Mayor's support personnel, the lead agent, a giant panda dressed in a sharp black suit named Agent Leuca from his official ID, greeted Nick and directed the agents to carefully remove and pack up the strange UAV device and unpack all supplies securing all recording devices. Nick directed them to send a team to pickup the other two agents down the path and the exact distance to their last known location. Two agents took off south down the way they had come on two ORVs with extra battery units loaded on the back.

It was quite nice not having to do anything for a change. He had other mammals to do everything else ready at his beck and call. This must be how it feels to be the Mayor or Bogo. He had to admit it didn't feel half bad.

He briefly gave a summary report to Agent Leuca who recorded everything and gave them some hot coffee, the good stuff not the crap they served in the station, and some delicious energy bars with real fruit and nuts. Nick never wanted to see another cricket bar in his life. He saw Agent Leuca wince a bit when he sniffed, and Nick realized he must smell quite rancid at this point. He must have gotten used to the stench. Apparently they had access to the rental office and the agents opened it up so that he could take a long hot shower and put on some fresh clean clothes.

As he came out clean and refreshed, he thought how wonderful civilization was. The woods may be a fun thing for the primalists to enjoy from time to time but nothing beat modern conveniences. Finnick went into the showers as soon as he was done and Nick was amazed they had clothes to fit him as well, but realized they would have these things handy and waiting for each of the them. Agent Leuca then came over to him handing him a phone, and he saw the visage of a very pleased quite lovely skunk appear on the screen.

Mayor Le Pew: smiling "Mr. Wilde it is so very good to see you back and alive."

Nick: "The feeling is mutual."

Mayor Le Pew: "They gave me a quick briefing on you mission. I look forward to your full report. Are you getting everything you need?"

Nick: "Yes ma'am, thank you. Your people have been amazing."

Mayor Le Pew: "Can you tell me anything about the device you found? Nothing official, just your suspicions."

Nick: "Just that I don't think it is Zootopian."

Mayor Le Pew: "Do you suspect it is of human origin?"

Nick: "I was hoping Fur… I mean... the Ambassador could help answer that."

Mayor Le Pew: "I will contact his office then first thing."

Nick: "Ummm I may have already contacted him. I hope that is okay."

Mayor Le Pew: "Well I had hoped to keep him out of this mess unless absolutely necessary, but I keep forgetting you are friends. That is not how we handle classified missions in our office, but I suppose it can't be helped in this situation. Did he have any ideas?"
Nick: "He should be here shortly. We just knew it was not this helicopter thing he initially suspected but something smaller."

Mayor Le Pew: "Okay well I will have Agent Leuca keep me informed of anything you find. I will stop by and check on your progress when you have everything back at the office."

Nick: "Thanks Mayor hopefully we will have more answers by the time we see you."

May Le Pew: "Excellent, put me back on with Agent Leuca."

Nick handed the phone to the panda and went to check on Finnick. As he walked into the office he thought he heard singing. He actually heard quite an amazing baritone voice actually singing Gazelle's song "Follow Your Heart." Nick had no idea Finnick had such a beautiful voice, and he also had no idea his fennec friend even knew any Gazelle songs. Meeting a certain mink seemed to have changed his friend quite a lot. He hoped everything went okay between the two of them as he hated to think how foul Finnick's mood would be for quite a long time if things did not work out. Nick preferred to think positively as the alternative would be unthinkable.

Agent Leuca informed him that they had secured the UAV in the van and it and the SUV with the two foxes and the raccoon would be heading back to Zootopia immediately while the other two vehicles would handle the recovery of the other team and turning in any rental equipment. He was informed the human Ambassador's driver was informed of their departure and would meet them en route. As soon as Finnick emerged from the rental office looking quite refreshed and in a much better mood, they got in the SUV with Samuel and headed toward the main highway.

Apparently Finnick had called Shannon and the conversation must have gone well as his friend was in quite a good mood. The trip just to get out of the backroads and to the outskirts of the Burrows took over an hour and once they hit the minor highways they started making much better time. They were informed that they had recovered Rudy and Reggie and were almost back with the remaining members of the ground teams except for the missing member of Ground2. Apparently Rudy and Reggie were in good shape and they had medical staff ready to treat Reggie's wounds. After another hour they stopped and met up with Drew's driver. As Nick get out of the SUV he saw his furless friend looked quite shaken stepping out of a futuristic looking sedan with flashing lights, red racing stripes, multi level adjustable spoiler and halogen lights. The human shook the paw of an anteater wearing a racing helmet, slung a black bag over his shoulder and headed right toward the foxes.

Nick was trying to think of a smart ass thing to say to the human when all of sudden he found himself embraced and lifted up by the human being squeezed and rocked back and forth.

Drew: thrilled and smiling "I am so happy to see you Nick. It has seemed like forever since I saw you last."

Drew looked to the fennec and as he appeared to reach down to hug Finnick he thought better of it as he saw the expression in the fennec's eyes and instead enthusiastically shook his paw.

Drew: "I am glad Nick had you looking out for him Finnick."

Finnick: "He was a fucking lucky bastard for sure."

Nick: talking to Finnick "Where were you when I was being squeezed to death?"

Finnick: laughing "He picked you up like you were a stuffed animal."

Drew: apologetically "Ah… I'm sorry Nick. It is just so good to see you alive and well."

Nick: "Well I was well. I suppose you want to see what we found."

Drew: "Sure… lead on."

Nick took the human over to the van and they opened it for him. Nick, Reggie, Finnick and all the agents stood watching the human examine the strange metal object.

Drew starts recording his examination with a 4K HD Video recorder.

Drew: "Hmmm it appears to be some kind of drone and possibly a human UAV. It has large wings with fins on each tip and a folding rotor on the rear end for stabilized short range flight. It appears to be designed for long range flight as well as near stationary flight for data collection. I count four cameras on the underside. Based on the lens and markings one is infra-red, one night vision, one thermal and one standard video with high end zoom. It is painted dark olive green and appears to weigh around 35-45 kgs. The front of the unit appears to have cameras for terrain and flight information for automatic navigation."

Nick had climbed up into the van and the others crowed around outside.

Nick: "UAV… I thought we already knew it was a UAV."

Drew: "Human UAV.

Nick: "Is it human?"

Drew: "Zootopians used UAV to refer to any Unidentified Air Vehicle but a human UAV is an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. It is very confusing but this appears to be some type of human drone possibly a sub-class called a human UAV.

It does appear to be of human origin but I am unfamiliar with the design. This is not unusual as there are many hundreds of different designs and models made on human Earth. Ah… I can see serial number and year on the top of this wing near the fuselage. Serial number T4590. Year 1989-14."

Nick: "1989-14?"

Drew: "That is 29 years ago from the current date on human Earth. I am not exactly sure what the -14 means."

Nick: pointing to a symbol "What is that?"

Drew: "On the other wing near the fuselage there is a symbol of a sideways facing wolf inside a red star. The red star would suggest possibly a Soviet or Russian connection."

Nick: "Soviet?"

Drew: "It is one of the superpowers of human Earth. Everything about this screams military."

Nick: "Can you find out?"

Drew: "My home country is not at the best of terms with them so I am not sure how much cooperation we can get, but I have no earthly idea how this device and most likely the other units operating down south got here or what they are doing. I would have to assume someone is operating them."

Nick: "Can you determine anything else?"
Drew: "I can field strip it and examine anything I can find that may give us some more clues, but it would probably be safer to do that back at your facility. I don't want to lose any parts and would need to document every step thoroughly."

Drew turned off the video recorder.

Drew: speaking to the Agent Leuca "I need to get a copy of any video or audio recordings and any other documentation we have to send to my military contacts on human Earth."

Agent Leuca: "Sir, I can get all those for you as soon as I get approval from the Mayor."

Drew: "Excellent, can you have a lab or facility ready for me to do a full exam on this immediately upon arrival?"

Agent Leuca: "Yes sir. I will call ahead and have it all ready for our arrival."

Drew: "Excellent, we should get underway immediately."

Agent Leuca: "Right away sir."

Drew put the video recorder into his bag and joined Nick seated in the middle seat of the SUV with Finnick and Samuel in the back. The agent that had been in the SUV moved to the van. Once they were seated in the SUV and had gotten underway Nick asked, "When did you become such a boss. You sounded like Bogo without all the yelling."

Drew: laughing "I guess I am used to it since I have been working in the Ambassador's office. It seems to get things accomplished much more rapidly and efficiently than trying to be too nice."

Nick: "Are you going to start ordering me around next?"

Drew: "Like that would work."

Nick: laughing "Might as well try ordering Carrots around."

Drew: "I think I would be the one who ends up getting ordered around."

Nick: "Well I just wanted to make sure all this power stuff wasn't giving you a big head."

Drew: "You guys are the ones with big heads. Your heads, Judy, yourself and Finnick's are as big as mine even though your bodies are far smaller. That must have been really tough on your mothers when you were born."

Nick: "If you want to keep your face from being bitten off, it would be best not to talk about Finnick's mother."

Drew glaces around to see if Finnick was listening but the little fox seemed to be busy doing something on his phone.

Drew: "Probably a good idea. Well I just need everything to be prepared in advance so that it all can be done as quickly as possible while still being done just right."

Nick: "Power mad are we?"

Drew: "Well we really don't have time to waste."

Nick: "Why is everything in a rush?"

Drew: "A lot has happened since you two have been gone."

Nick: "Such as?"

Drew filled Nick in on the new Political party called The Protectors, the Mayor's precarious position, the use of this "Lights in the Sky" crisis for political gain, the rally Drew, Judy and Tala attended and the message and potential dangers of these Protectors. He also discussed the options they were looking at to possibly stop these Protectors. As these issues were discussed Finnick had stopped his daydreaming and had a grim look on his face and appeared to be intently following their conversation.

Nick: understanding "No wonder you and Carrots were acting that way."

Drew: "Now you see why we need to get this UAV situation resolved as soon as possible so that the public can regain confidence in the Mayor's office before the election in nine days."

Nick: "Can it be resolved?"

Drew: "I am not sure, but we can at least take some steps. We need to get the data and hopefully an answer from the humans on Earth."

Nick: "What do you need me and Fin to do?"

Drew: "Well after you give a full debriefing to the Mayor's people, we need to know what is really going on with the public with regards to this election. We need to know what they are thinking and what we can do to get them back on the Mayor's side."

Nick: "Are these guys really as bad as you say or are you just trying to wind my chain?"

Drew: "I wish I was. I have seen these types of groups on human Earth before and the end results were not pretty. The other problem is that there is no opposition to the group which means they can pretty much do anything they want now, and once they get in power, everyone will be helpless to stop it."

Nick: "Do you think they mean harm to Zootopia?"

Drew: "I am worried about the hatred and tone of the rhetoric. It is an easy jump from that kind of political power to forcing their views and opinions on every citizen of Zootopia. It is too early to label them as a fascist organization, but they definitely have that vibe. Their true agenda is unknown."

Nick: "Fascist?"

Drew: "It means a government maintaining complete power over the system with a dictator calling all the shots. The group commonly suppresses any opposition and criticism while forcing their agenda on the populace with no counterbalance, and frequently imposes racist or in Zootopia's case, speciest prejudice and bias as well as other forms of oppression against the public in the name of nationalism."

Nick: laughing "You must be joking. We are not crazy humans. We are Zootopians. Nothing like that could happen here."

Drew: "I thought the same thing until I found myself at one of their rallies. I have never felt such hate or been so uncomfortable in all my time in Zootopia. Ask Judy when we see her. Even the Covenant didn't espouse such hatred."

Nick: "Well I will find out what I can, but I think you are overreacting."

Drew: "I really hope I am Nick."

Finnick: angrily "These fuckers threatened Tala?"

Drew: "I wish it was not so but they did. Even the appearance of one species being close to a different species was enough to set them off spouting hatred and throwing things. I got the two girls out of there as soon as I felt the mood of the crowd toward us."

Finnick: defiantly "If I were there I woulda busted some heads."

Drew: "Unfortunately against a huge mob that would only have potentially gotten yourself killed and caused tension to rise. We need a way to diffuse such a situation. Crowds such as those get energy from each other. In many such groups with peaceful positive agendas and messages this can be a good thing, but in a group such as The Protectors what is riled up is latent potentials of hatred, violence and anger. These people look for a scapegoat to blame for their problems and look for easy targets to attack."

Nick: "I think they just need a good joke."

Drew: "Ah, if it was only that simple."

Nick: "I have been looking for simple for weeks and it has been quite elusive."

Drew: "Everything does seem to have five layers which then turn into ten when you cut deeper and then twenty when you go a bit further."

---

Several hours later the vehicles arrived at the Mayor's facility and they brought the van into a classified loading dock. The UAV was carefully unloaded and taken into a lab. Finnick and Samuel went off to be debriefed while Nick stayed with Drew to help do a further examination of their prize from a week and a half of trudging around in the wilderness risking their lives.

With the assistance of a wolf and sheep scientist they had the UAV scanned, imaged, photographed and videotaped. They then did thermal, radiation, infra-red, sonic, magnetic and electrical tests. Once it cleared all tests, Drew and the scientists documented the removal of all easily accessible parts labeling and documenting every part for proper reassembly.

Drew: speaking into the camera microphone while using a 4K HD Video Recorder "The suspected unit contains a black box with yellow and orange stripes. The chip was removed with a screwdriver and data was able to be retrieved. The only data on the chip was last recorded time which matches the recorded time of the lightning strike by agent Wilde and telemetry data on the current flight path."

Drew then pans to show all the data found on the inside of the removed panels.

Drew: "The parts contain two flags and written data. One flag is the current Japanese flag. The second flag is unknown although it appears to be Russian or a former Soviet republic. It has a red background with white globe of the human Earth with blue representing the continents. Inside the globe is the traditional hammer and sickle Communist Russian symbol in black outline. The globe is framed by golden ears of wheat and a golden five pointed star above the globe. These two flags confirm that the device is definitely of human origin. Also manufacturing data shows that this device which I suspect is an early model human UAV which stands for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle was created at the Tokyo Central Arsenal Division of Robotics. The manufacturing information appears to be written in English, Russian and Japanese although this needs to be confirmed as I am only able to read the English. The exact weight of the suspected UAV is 38.6 kgs. The cameras on the underside are confirmed to be standard, night vision, infra-red and thermal. The symbol on the outside is also unknown but appears it may be of Russian or Soviet origin. It consists of a five point red star with a side view of what appears to be a wolf's head in the middle."

Drew turns off the camera and Nick who had been watching nearby pointed at the Wolf scientist with the last name Lupinto on his name tag and then pointed at the symbol.

Nick: again pointing at the wolf and asking sternly "So how are you wolves involved in all this?"

Lupinto: flustered "I… I don't know. I have never seen that symbol."

Nick: accusing "You need to come clean now before this goes bad for you."

Lupinto: frightened "I… I swear I don't know. Wolves are not behind this."

Nick: denouncing "Very well I will have to do a full background check on you Dr. Lupinto. Please give me your full name for the report."

Lupinto: frightened "I… oh..."

Drew: irked "Come on Nick please have your fun somewhere else."

Nick: grinning "Oh come on Furless, I was about to have him confess to all sorts of stuff."

Drew: "We don't have time for this."

Nick: "Well it was getting too serious."

Lupinto: confused "I'm not in trouble?"

Nick: "Depends… have you done anything wrong?"

Lupinto: "Oh… no… no I swear I haven't."

Drew: "Nick, I have to schedule a special communication with human Earth. How about you finish your debrief while I contact Mayor Le Pew for permission."

Nick: "Very well… you spoil all my fun."

While Nick gave his debrief, Drew met Mayor Le Pew who had been waiting outside the lab.

Le Pew: "Mr. Ambassador, how did the examination go?"

Drew: "We did as thorough an exam as I dare in this facility. I have tried to read the data off several of the data modules, but was only able to see a short bit of data. We would need to have experts in these type of devices try to access the data modules at the core. I just don't have the equipment to do that kind of examination."

Le Pew: "What are your findings?"

Drew: "This is definitely of human Earth origin but it appears to be as old as 29 years and possibly of an origin of another superpower group. I have no idea what it is doing here or why it is collecting data. I can assure you no device like this came through our end. I need to look at the internal data and GPS data to determine where this equipment originated and possibly it's point of origin. I need permission to send all the data collected to my friend on human Earth that could oversee a full examination of the device and that data."

Le Pew: concerned "How do you know the humans of your group are not behind this?"

Drew: "Well it makes no sense. Why would they need to be spying far outside the city limits? They already have full detailed information about Zootopia and the surrounding areas. They already have data hundreds of times greater than these devices were collecting. Also it would make no sense to do this kind of reconnaissance work when we already have much great data and have very good relations with your people. There would be nothing to gain and everything to lose. I can think of no possibly reason."

Le Pew: "So there is a possibility of another human presence in Zootopia?"

Drew: "I won't go that far, but we have to assume there are several of these devices as we have seen multiple units at the same time in multiple locations. These devices also have to be being maintained, refueled and monitored somewhere on the planet. It is possibly this is being done by natives but it could also be done by human agents."

Le Pew: "Are we in danger?"

Drew: "Potentially, while this device appears to be only for reconnaissance, it is military issue which is very worrying. If it was strictly scientific it could be a curious party only interested in what is located in this area of the planet. The nature of these devices hiding from detection, the missing mammals, and the military nature of the equipment suggest a possible prelude to invasion, harvesting of natural resources, an attack on the population or a host of other possibilities. I will need to get more answers and possible counter-actions and defenses. I need to get permission to send all collected digital data to human Earth immediately and clearance to send the device if it is required which I am quite certain it will be."

Le Pew: "I will get you clearance to send the data and work on clearance to send the device based on what answers you are able to obtain. I can't say I am happy about these results as they only sound like they will cause greater fear in the public. However it is possible we may be able to turn the counter measures to help our cause as well as providing some defense against this potential threat."

Drew: "Should I call Mario to drive me to West Plant?"

Le Pew: "No he doesn't have the clearance and I need to send you with security. I will arrange to have transportation ready in five minutes at the entry dock. You can collect all the data you require and I will issue the approval for transfer of the data directly to the DTCD (Dimensional Transfer Communications Department)."

Drew: "Very good Mayor. I hope we can have an answer soon. How long to get approval to move and transfer the device?"

Le Pew: "I will need to get approval from the Security Council which might take awhile. They have already been scheduled to meet this morning to go through all the briefings and data. Hopefully by early afternoon."

Drew: "Just let me know. I will keep you informed of any developments."

Le Pew: "I don't have to tell you how important this issue is."

Drew: "Of course Mayor. I will make sure they know it is Priority One."

Le Pew: "Very good. Good luck to you."

Drew: "Good luck to us all."

Drew quickly began making copies of every data file possible and integrating them into an encapsulated encrypted digital packet. He texted Judy to let her know where he would be and had an agent let Nick and Finnick know what he was doing. He got into an armored SUV and they headed out to West Plan with two fully armed teams of elite ZPD units.

Drew called the DTCD en route and had requested The Colonel be on hand for the transfer and communications. He then called his assistant Marvin to let him know where he would be and to email him anything he needed to address during his free time as he would be out of the office indefinitely. The convoy arrived at the DTS (Dimensional Transfer Station) ninety minutes later and after clearing security he delivered the package for digital transport during the open Communications window and confirmed Colonel Richard Hanson was on the other end of the communications window.

After quick pleasantries Drew filled The Colonel on everything he had found and what they needed immediately.

Colonel do you have idea what this could be?

From your description it appears to be a Russian made UAV but there are quite a number of unusual bits of information that will need to be researched.

Which components are inconsistent?

The flag you found is unknown as well as the Japanese factory listed. Also as far as I know the Soviets or Russians did not have any UAVs matching that description in 1989. But I will start making inquiries on the factory, flag, symbols and serial numbers.

Is there anything else you need?

The units would contain a lot of vital information on the CPUs inside which will require special equipment in order to read this data. Unfortunately all the detailed information will require physical examination of the device.

We are working on getting approval to transfer the unit. Anything you can find in the meantime will be useful in getting that approval.

We just received the last of the packet and I will have my experts going over the data immediately.

Any idea of the threat we face and possible counter measures?

Well until we are certain who is running the operations, a large part of the threat is unknown. Because they are trying to hide their presence and not engaging most likely they only have reconnaissance authorization. However it sounds like with the missing mammals they are most likely kidnapping or executing anyone who has gotten too close to identify who is responsible and where they are operating from.

Well I will wait on any information your people can provide based on the data we sent. Any possible solutions I can take to the Security Council will go a long way.

We will contact you in a couple hours with what we found. Colonel out.

Drew informed Agent Leuca to wake him if they got any information from human Earth, The Mayor or the Security Council. He then decided to get a couple hours of much needed sleep in the temporary living residence that he and his staff used while staying at West Plant.

A couple hours later he was awoken and instructed that The Colonel had some information for him.

Colonel you find something on what we sent you?

A few things. The symbol with the wolf and red star represents the Soviet Armored Reconnaissance Core. That is also confirmed by the Serial Number which begins with 'T' which was only using by the SARC.

Not Russian?

No Soviet before the dissolution of the USSR. This matches the other thing we found which was that this appears to be consistent with a proposed UAV Mark project of the USSR which was scrapped and never developed according to all data we have.

What about that Year with a dash 14?

The second part is the latest edition to the model which would be 2014.

So this version could have been made anytime after 2014 by a Soviet Union that hasn't existed in over 27 years?

Yes even more curious in the factory where it was built.

Can you tell me any more about this Japanese factory and the manufacturing division?

The Robotic Division never existed but the Japanese factory actually did exist up until 1945 and was decommissioned at the end of World War II. All military manufacturing was banned from Japan after the war.

So somehow a Soviet UAV was manufactured in a plant that hasn't existed for 73 years by a country that hasn't existed in 27 years and somehow has found it's way here with who knows how many others by an unknown force with unknown intentions. I am used to weird now but this really had taken weird to a whole new level.

Well if it is any consolation you have made things quite exciting around here. I don't think I have ever seen officials so panicked before.

Could a rogue Soviet group be operating these?

We can't discount that possibility but we are unsure how that could be possible or what would be the purpose.

Is it possible that the Russians or Soviets have a means of transport to my current location?

Again the power required for such a device would be enormous and we don't know of any potential source large enough but it is possible something is well hidden but very unlikely. Any rogue group with those kinds of resources would have numerous other agendas here instead of using them on this kind of project. The amount of resources required for that kind of project could only be achieved by a superpower not a rogue group.

Are the Russians behind this then?

We are looking into this closely but nothing has turned up so far. But we will keep looking.

What about the other flag?

It doesn't exist from our knowledge. It appears to be Russian or Soviet in origin but nothing like it exists.

Is there anything else you can tell me from the data sent?

Nothing definitive but we are still checking discretely with various sources.

What counter measures can be offered?

If we have the unit itself we may be able to find a way to track it back to its source. Also from the data inside we could provide a lot more information on how to track it and its purpose. As far as options we can offer Anti-Air defensive systems, Radar detection systems and Counter-UAV technology.

Is there anything else that can be offered?

Well all options are on the table as far as military. Anything they need in terms of offensive weapons and weapon systems. I know they are loathe to allow such weapons but they are available in case of likely invasion or military offensive. Harrier Jump Jets should be small enough to fit through the portal and were made to combat Russian tanks and planes. They don't need a runway which is critical for your needs. We would need to send pilots, technicians and jet fuel through to support those. We can get you eight of those immediately but could quickly get you more if needed. We can have special forces armed and mobilized in a matter of days by fast tracking the clearances. I can have my own team there in a matter of hours.

I think that is premature but it would not hurt to have contingency plans for any scenarios prepared for immediate execution. Currently we are looking for all non-lethal defensive options.

I will prepare plans for all non-lethal defensive options but many of them require a full examination of the UAV. A lot of the vital information is contained inside it's core components and internal CPUs which will require special equipment and power sources to access.

Thanks Colonel I will pass this information onto the Security Council and try and get authority.

Understood Colonel out.

Drew then quickly created a report for the Security Council and gave it to Agent Leuca for secure transmission to the Mayor's office. He also put a request into the Mayor for Nick and Judy to be given secure clearance regarding this situation. This would have been an unusual request but these were quite unusual circumstances and he thought he had a chance of getting approval so he figured it would be worth a shot. He didn't relish the thought of keeping everything from Judy and Nick. Keeping anything from Judy was a personal struggle and something he never wanted to have to do, but normally something like this would have been kept top secret.

He requested Agent Leuca inform him as soon as they made a decision on the transport of the human UAV. He got a message from Nick saying he and Finnick were done with their debriefs. Apparently Finnick had some urgent business to attend to but Nick was going to see Honey and look into some of the other information Drew needed and would hopefully see him tonight. Judy let him know she had invited Nick for dinner and to stay with them at least for a few days. Drew knew that he and Judy needed to probe for a good bit of additional information from the fox as well as dealing with their current crisis. The little bunny was always thinking ahead. He then spent the rest of the afternoon dealing with the various crises from his office related to all the emergency requests they were preparing.

In the late afternoon Drew got a call from the Mayor letting him know they had authorized the release of the human UAV for analysis on human Earth. He was informed they were still debating on what options were acceptable from the humans and expected a more thorough list of options after analysis of the unit. He was also informed she had managed to get clearance for Nick and Judy after quite a lot discussion. Fortunately Nick and Judy had both proven themselves in multiple crises and plots involving Zootopia and that fact ultimately carried the day. She let him know she would inform both of them and have them electronically processes the paperwork required immediately. He then oversaw the transport of the device when it arrived at West Plant a few hours later. He then confirmed the humans had received it and were taking it to processing. He then had an agent take him back to his home in Zootopia.

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Nick and Finnick finished their debrief and joined with Reggie, Samuel and Rudy for a reunion. Nick was quite pleased the squirrel and ocelot were in good condition and they all were in good spirits as all their debriefings were completed and they were all back safely in Zootopia. Finnick was in an even better mood after he received his sizable check for their work and made a quick escape once they were cleared to leave. They were due back for follow up the next day, but the little fennec didn't waste any time making his way to his van and a special visit to a certain new acquaintance.

Nick had an Agent drive him to his home and packed for an extended stay with Carrots and the human and then had the Agent drop him off at Honey's den. He had called the honey badger earlier and apparently she was quite excited to hear from him, and apparently had a lot of things to discuss with him. As Nick walked to his friend's home, he prepared himself for the assault of theories about sheep, but knew that somewhere in all those theories rested some truths he would need to discover. The trick was always trying to determine fact from fantasy.