Red Alert

Finally the trio are reunited and we get to catch Drudy up on the adventures of their foxy friend. However a prophetic warning from Honey Badger gives the friends quite a lot to consider. (BTW anyone get the four different references of the chapter title? Hint: One of them is quite foxy.)

Zoodate: 121 P.C.

As Drew dragged himself through the door after a nearly eighteen hour marathon of madness, he never thought he would be so happy to be back home. His shoulders and muscles ached as he dropped his black bag of clothes and electronics on the floor and let out an exhausted sigh. Just as he turned he heard a whoosh and a light thumping sound on carpet. He braced for the impact as he knew that sound quite well by now, and sure enough an instant later he found a gray furry form in his arms grabbing him around the neck in a death embrace and a mouth with very large front teeth attempting to nibble his face off. But instead of being reviled, he embraced and held on to this attacker grinning and hugging her spinning around and trying to nibble her back. For this was the reason he loved coming home and his main motivation for doing all the crazy things he found himself doing in this strange land so far from his own.

Drew grinned and asked a rhetorical question to the furry form in his arms, "Happy to see me?"

The furry form finally relented stopping her nibbling to answer slyly, "What do you think?"

Drew carried the bundle into the apartment dragging his bag trailing behind him. As he wandered into the living room, he saw a grinning reddish-orange furry figure with a big bushy tail sitting on the sofa looking quite amused by the scene he was witnessing.

"I need to hire a welcome committee like that to greet me wherever I go." The seated figure with the toothy grin requested.

"I rent her out for parties." The exhausted but happy human responded in a teasing tone.

The gray one got a false indignant look on her face and told the two gentlemammals, "I only save my special welcome for special occasions and this certainly qualifies. I finally have my two guys together again after what seems like forever."

The reddish one slyly responded, "I already had my similar welcome from Furless. While it is wonderful to see you again my human friend, I could use some real food after being trapped in the forsaken wilderness for nearly two weeks. Think you could whip us up something to eat?"

The homo sapiens grinned back at the highly evolved vulpes vulpes, "What, the raw vegetation or microwaved carrots this little bundle can prepare not good enough for you?"

The toothy smile he received told him the answer was a most definite no as the hungry canine emphasized, "Rabbit food may be fine for rabbits but this beautiful bushy tail needs some real food before it starts losing all its luster and fur and ends up looking like a giant rat tail."

The large furless mammal gave the hungry figure a grin and carried the gray bundle in his arms into the kitchen looking in freezer for something to make and teasing the red one answering, "We can't have that as what would you become? They might start mistaking you for a new orangish breed of opossum."

The fluffy form in the humans arms whispered conspiratorially in his ear, "Nick wanted some of the fish and chips. I already defrosted them and left them in the fridge."

The extraterrestrial gave the fluffy form a quick kiss and considerately asked her, "Well what would you like me to make you while we have that?"

The gray one thoughtfully responded to his request, "Could you make some of the Chopped Greek Salad and some of that Kale and Farro Salad?"

Her request was met with a grin and a nod, "Of course my bun, who says rabbit food can't taste delicious. I would like some of that myself."

He then carried her and the bag up towards the bedroom asking her cunningly, "I'm going to take a shower and change into something more comfortable first. Care to join me?"

She responded with a coquettish grin, "You know I would love to but I am entertaining our long lost friend and didn't want to abandon him as my presence may delay you for quite awhile if our similar excursions of the past are any indication."

The hominid gave her a persuading argument, "I am sure he wouldn't mind if you gave me a good scrubbing all over. He would appreciate me being extra clean before I cooked his dinner."

His fluffy tailed companion whispered to him quite seductively, "I promise I'll make it up to you later."

The drained human got a burst of energy from that thought and reluctantly let the gray bundle down and gently rubbed her head and patted her fluffy rump as he shooed her back toward their foxy guest. He then headed toward the bedroom to clean up a bit before joining his two recently reunited friends.

After a thorough cleaning, the human felt a bit a bit more alive and quickly cooked a welcome home meal for his foxy guest and close friend as well as well as two types of tasty salads for his long eared love. He placed all the foods on the table and gave himself some helpings of each while his two guests scooped some very large helpings of their requested sustenance onto their plates. Drew while not especially religious bowed his head and led the trio in a prayer thanking whatever powers that be for the safe return of his foxy friend and the reunion they were currently enjoying. Nick had no problem with that as he said he would take any help he could get. Judy echoed the sentiment and all three dug in stuffing themselves. During dinner they only focused on friendly banter as the three had not seen each other for awhile and it was pleasant adjusting to their former patterns of amiable conversation. By the end of the meal it was as if all three friends had never been separated.

The fox and bunny headed over to the sofa while their human host prepared three large dairy free chocolate shakes made with frozen bananas, coconut milk ice cream, almond milk, chocolate and chocolate syrup and shaved chocolate on top. He stuck a large straw in each thick shake and presented one to each of his two friends sitting next to the fuzzy gray cottontail while his bushy tailed friend relaxed in the recliner with a great toothy grin and large sigh as he relaxed his tired bones.

Nick: "You have no idea how much I missed this kind of thing out in the woods."

Drew: "I can imagine. What did you have to eat out there?"

Nick: "Well we had a few hot foods for the first part of the trip. We cooked things like biscuits and gravy, eggs, and pancakes. But for the last half we were just eating cricket bars and fruit juice. And cricket bars are not as good as they sound."

Drew: disgusted "Well they sound terrible so I hate think how bad they really are."

Judy: repulsed "Blech!"

Nick: "Well at least Carrots here could have found some things to nibble on in the woods while we were out there."

Judy: "A lot of that stuff is not very tasty and some is quite poisonous so it would not have been so wonderful for me either."

Nick: "Well that is what the primalists said when they explained why they didn't have any prey members with them."

Drew: "Primalists?"

Nick: "Oh I guess I need to get to my story."

Judy: "We have been waiting for that since the moment you left."

Drew: "Did you guys get all the paperwork filed for complete clearance to discuss everything? I went to a lot of trouble to get everyone fully cleared to discuss every detail."

Nick: grinning "Like you didn't do it for yourself. You look like someone sick with the flu trying to keep anything from Carrots."

Judy: grinning "He can't keep anything from me. Yes I got all the paperwork processed."

Drew: "Well that is not exactly true, love. I have kept a lot of the classified requests by the government from you. But I just omitted telling you they existed. I would never lie to you. You are not missing anything though… everything was quite mundane compared to this discovery by our foxy friend here."

Nick: grinning "Glad to rock the boat."

Drew: "More like crashed the boat into some rocks and then flipped it over."

Judy: "Well can we get to your story then?"

Nick: "Fine. I guess I owe you entertainment for the evening now that my belly is finally full."

Nick then began to recount the story however he didn't get very far before he was interrupted.

Judy: shocked "You wore Junior Ranger Scout uniforms? I thought you were still traumatized by that whole thing."

Nick: "After all I have been through these past few years I decided I could put all that behind me. What better way to do that than face that past head on."

Judy: "Hmmm gutsy move. I guess that is what I did myself with Tala while you were gone."

Nick: "What did you do with Tala when I was gone?"

Judy got an embarrassed look on her face as she realized she had said that out loud. She wasn't used to editing herself around her foxy friend. Drew got a bit of an uncomfortable look himself and Nick began to suspect that something significant had happened while he had been absent. The fox knew he couldn't leave these two alone without their getting into a great deal of trouble unless he kept them on the straight and narrow. He would have to get to the bottom of this later.

Judy: hesitantly looking uncomfortable "Oh just that we discovered a few things with Tala from my past. It is great you were able to overcome your past trauma like that."

Nick decided to let it go for the moment as he had quite a lot of story to get through and continued to recount his and Finnick's adventure. He noticed the human and bunny where quite fascinated by the entire meeting with the primalists. He could tell they wanted to burst during this whole part of the story but held their tongues. The fox was quite amazed that they had somehow learned to hold their tongues until the end of a section of story before finally blurting out...

Judy: excited "Finnick found a girlfriend!"

Drew: amused "I guess there is someone for everybody. I find it interesting how different he was with her."

Judy: "Well he is a lot different with Tala and to a similar extent with me as well. So that was not so shocking to me."

Drew: "Well I suppose that is true. When the three of us were together in West Plant he was quite a lot different than when I have seen him at other times."

Judy: talking to Nick "Did you take any pictures of her?"

Nick: "She was kind of naked. Finnick would have killed me and stretched my innards to dry in the sun if I had dared do something like that to her when she was in that state. I can tell you that she is quite adorable. The little guy does have good taste."

Drew: "I expect she was the reason he was so distracted when I saw you guys. He seemed to ignore most everything until he heard about Tala being threatened."

Judy: shocked "Tala threatened? When?"

Drew: "At the rally."

Judy: understanding "Oh… yes… that seemed like ages ago… but it was actually was only a week ago."

Nick: "Sounds like I have a lot of catching up to do as well."

Drew: "True. These primalists sound like quite an interesting group. Had you never heard of them before?"

Nick: "Nope, which is surprising. I am usually in touch with all the more cutting edge type of off the grid groups in Zootopia."

Drew: "Well one thing you seem to be glossing over is this lynx. Did you find a girlfriend Nick?"

Nick: "Fila is a bit of a free spirit. Not sure she is really girlfriend material."

Judy: curious "Are you going to see her again?"

Nick: "We will have to see. I am not saying no but I will just have to check and see where her head is at."

Drew: "Why not give her a call tonight? I am sure she would be interested to see if you made it out of the woods alive."

Judy: "I would like to meet her." Judy thought about this a moment. "Well clothed of course."

Nick: "Well of course. I couldn't have the human seeing her like that."

Drew: "You realize she would just look like a lynx like that to me. What makes you think I would react any differently seeing a naked lynx?"

Nick: grinning "Oh you just never know with you humans."

Drew: patting his heart "You hurt me Nick. I would never think to interfere with any potential girlfriends of yours."

Drew: reconsidering and then grinning "But I do take it as a compliment that you see me as a threat. So you think she would prefer a human over a fox eh?"

Nick: being a bit annoyed that his insult had turned against him "The day I have to worry about a human being preferred over this sexy fox is the day I retire."

Drew: "You just started at the ZPD so I am afraid you are a long way from that. And I think you are quite a ways from retiring from the dating pool."

Nick: annoyed "I didn't say I was going to retire just that I would."

Drew: grinning "I'm just glad you see me as threat."

Judy: annoyed "Hush you two." Pointing at Drew. "You are not going to be a threat to anyone's love life if you know what's good for you."

Drew: apologetically "Yes my bun, I only said it was nice to be considered a threat, not that I was."

Judy: sternly "Good. And you best keep it that way."

Nick: grinning "Well it's good to see the mammal wearing the pants in your relationship hasn't changed while I was gone."

Judy: annoyed "Hush."

Nick laughs and then continues his story. After the part with the hole in the ground and the mysterious mounds Drew had a few questions as if this was any surprise.

Drew: "I hadn't heard any part of this mentioned. I suppose with all the uproar from the UAV this part was completely ignored."

Nick: "Well Finnick and I were asked quite extensively about this in the debrief. We turned over all the pictures and samples we found."

Drew: "Hmmm it sounds like this may be part of an ancient complex. I know so little of the history of Zootopia. The records are so spotty."

Nick: "Hopefully some of the pictures and samples we were able to snag will help."

Drew: "Did any of the other groups find anything similar?"

Nick: "Not as far as I know. But we didn't really discuss such things. We were busy trying to get out with our fur still intact and all."

Judy: "I wonder why so little of Zootopia history is not taught in the schools. We studied the formation of the bond between predator and prey but nothing on how we came to exist."

Drew: "This is strange as for humans the creation and evolution is a topic of quite a deal of study and debate. We are still finding new discoveries about our ancestors and evolution. I was always wondering if primates or human ancestors ever lived with your ancestors. We still know so very little of the rest of the planet. Who knows what is out there?"

Judy: "It is as if there is a conspiracy to hide all that information."

Nick: "Don't mention conspiracy. I had enough of that topic with Honey earlier."

Drew: "We had been trying to talk to her for awhile. Well Judy tried."

Judy: "She only wanted to ask about you Nick. All I could get was theories about where you were and what you were doing."

Nick: "Well she gave me an earful. But I will get to that in a bit."

Drew: "Well if we ever get a chance, I would like to check out that find of yours. Anything that might shed clues about Zootopia's ancient past would be fascinating. I would have to see if you have an archaeological teams that could study something like that. I could ask Dr. Orshank."

Nick: questioning "Dr. Orshank?"

Judy: "He is the curator of the National History Museum. Drew, Tala and I met him while touring the museum."

Nick: "You went back there? I thought you were terrified of that place."

Judy: "I guess I got over it. It doesn't seem very scary with lots of other mammals around."

Nick: "I guess we are all getting over our fears lately."

Judy: looking at Drew out of the corner of her eye "Yes, lots of them."

Nick: "I feel like I am missing a lot of information about what went on while I was gone."

Judy: "We will try and cover that in a bit. Continue your story."

Nick then described seeing the lights in the sky and playing chicken with the UAV and then the lightning strike. He described the uneasy feeling of being followed and meeting the other ground teams and then the escape from the woods. Both Drew and Nick described the examination of the UAV and the findings. Drew updated the ZPD partners on the findings from command central on the human side.

Judy: "What now? I thought The Protectors were the only thing we had to worry about but now we are threatened with invasion."

Nick: "I kinda wish we didn't find the thing now."
Drew: "Don't say that Nick. You may have prevented an all out invasion. At least now we can possibly prepare countermeasures and prepare for any eventuality."
Nick: "How many invasions does one fox have to prevent to keep this city safe?"

Drew: "Several apparently."

Judy: "What are harrier jump jets?"

Drew: "They are small metal manned flying vehicles. They are super fast and can take off straight into the air instead of needing a long runway to takeoff and land. They also can carry numerous special guided missiles and bombs for to air-to-air, air-to-surface and anti-ship combat."

Judy: frowning "They sound really dangerous."

Drew: sighs "They are. They were designed to fight Soviet tanks, aircraft and ground forces."

Judy: "Why did you humans create such dangerous things?"

Drew: "Well it is because of the arms race. Each country and side wanted to have better and better combat capability and more firepower than the other countries. So each side would keep improving and developing more and more deadly weapons and tools for war and conflict."

Judy: reviled "It sounds terrible."

Drew: "Well actually one thing that actually improved with more accurate weapon systems was the ability to target only military targets and minimize civilian casualties. During earlier conflicts and wars the civilians were killed and injured in huge numbers, but those numbers have been greatly reduced with new advances."

Judy: frowning "You sound happy about these new deadly things."

Drew: "You know how I feel about killing anything. I was only saying that there were at least some positive aspects of the new technology."

Nick: grinning "Sounds like those humans needed a time out until they behaved."

Drew: "I wish it was that simple Nick. There is still so much I have no idea about. I have no idea how this device was even manufactured by a country who hasn't existed in 27 years in a factory that hasn't existed in 73 years. Then the question is how it and all the others could have possibly have ended up in Zootopia. Who is operating these devices and why? Who is taking the mammals and why? What do they know of the population and what are their intentions? Do they mean to invade Zootopia and are they a threat?"

Nick: "Is there anything you know Furless?"

Drew: "I know that we need to plan for every possibility and be able to react immediately or it could be too late. I know we need to put a plan into place and use as many defensive measures as possible until we are certain of the intentions of these creatures whether they be human or natives. The weapons you saw during the Covenant invasion are like sticks and rocks compared to what the might of the Soviet military could bring to bear."

Judy: despondent "Ohhhh…. I kind of wish you hadn't gotten me this security clearance now."

Nick: "We just know how to deal with the occasional theft and domestic disturbance. How can you expect us to deal with such a force?"

Drew: "Well if circumstances become dire, we can bring humans who specialize in these weapon systems like the special team that helped Judy and I escape from human Earth."

Judy: uncomfortable "They were kind of scary."

Drew: "They would not have harmed you. It was their job to protect you."

Judy: "I know. But it was still scary being around those humans with guns that hurt mammals."

Nick: "And then who protects us from these guys once the threat is gone?"

Drew: "Well they would only be here as long as the threat existed. Only until we no long requested their presence."

Nick: "And if they decide a house on Zootopia sounds good?"

Drew: "These are soldiers Nick not settlers. They have a mission. They do it and go home. They don't relish staying any longer than needed. That is their job."

Judy: "I thought you were worried about the humans invading Zootopia."

Drew: "Well initially I was, but both sides have been getting a great deal the way things are, and I don't feel it is in the best interests of the humans to upset the Zootopians by try anything. But I would be the first mammal keeping a close eye for any indication of anything to hint at that."

Judy: resigned "I suppose we don't have any alternative."

Drew: "Well hopefully the defensive measures will help without causing any threat to Zootopia, and may help turn the public back to the Mayor's side."

Nick: teasing "Still scared of these big bad Protectors?"

Judy: "Nick you didn't see them. If you had you wouldn't so casually dismiss their threat."

Nick: teasing "Really Carrots, don't tell me Bogo was right about you being just another scared bunny."

Judy: frowning "Really Nick, you don't think by now I have proven my bravery. You who goes out with me everyday arresting criminals. You don't think I know what to be afraid of what not to?"

Nick: "Okay… okay… well it is hard to imagine Zootopians acting the way you say. I guess I will have to see it for myself. Honey was out of her mind."

Drew: "Well we want to hear what she had to say."

Nick: "It is scary times when you are begging for conspiracies from Honey."

Drew: "Well that should tell you something Nick. We really need to hear what the word on the street is as well and what we can do to turn things around and help the Mayor."

Nick: smiling "Oh all on me again eh? Foxy has to save the day for the hundredth time?"

Drew: frustrated and sarcastically "Yes Nick, it is all up to you once again. Judy and I couldn't do anything at all until you returned."

Nick: smiling satisfied "That's what I thought."

Judy: irked "That was sarcasm fur brain."

Nick: "What I heard was... oh help us great fox… we are a just big bumbling furless thing and little fuzzy wuzzy piece of fluff. Help us! Help us!"

Drew: "Nick I really don't care what you think as this point. We all just need to do everything we can."

Judy: "Drew is right."

Nick: astonished "Really you are letting me get away with that?"

Drew: "We really don't have time for egos."

Nick: becoming slightly troubled "Very well I will look into it tomorrow."

Nick started to have a bad feeling about everything. Maybe all the nonsense Honey was telling him wasn't entirely nonsense. Maybe just the stuff involving sheep was nonsense. His two friends had been acting quite strangely and a bit panicked from the moment he contacted them coming out of the woods. He would have to get to the bottom of all this.

Judy: "Nick can you tell us about what Honey had to say?"

Drew: "Ditto to that."

Nick: "Very well but I am not sure how much help it will be but here it goes."

As Nick waited at the fourth security entry point, he kept asking why he was visiting Honey at her apartment again. He looked up at the second camera high in the corner glaring down at him and gave it his best friendly Nick Wilde patented grin and waved. He then put his paws in the air and slowly turned around. He then heard a crackle and a deep voice obviously speaking through a voice modulator come through the small speaker behind the solid iron gate he was trying to pass. The menacing voice spoke to him accusingly, "Prove to me you are Nick Wilde, fox, if that is really what you are."

Nick hadn't visited Honey in her den in quite awhile and he noticed she had added quite a lot of additional security recently. In the past, there was only one obstacle to get past, but this was the fourth such gate. Honey was a bit nuts, but even for her this was getting ridiculous. He answered in hopefully a calm and collected unsheeplike voice, "Honey, NICKIT here. I called you just a few minutes ago on the phone letting you know I was coming just as I told you the past three times. When did you add all this additional security?"

He waited patiently for an answer from the box. "Why are you so interested in my security?" The box answered accusingly.

The fox sighed as he thought of a proper response. As he remembered something, he raised his eyebrows and got a sly grin on his muzzle. His response ready he retorted, "Remember when we were kids and we were playing on the rail tracks near Shady Place and I slipped and fell to the tracks below just as a train was approaching. You had a line of cord you always kept around your waist as a belt. You yanked it off and tossed it down to me and I climbed up it just in time before the train got there. You then swung the cord so I could grab the guardrail and climb back up. Remember we didn't know I was injured at first since the blood was disguised by my fur?"

"Anyone could have tortured that information from you or the fennec." The menacing voice boomed accusingly.

"Ah possibly, but would they have this to show for it?" Nick turned with his back to the camera, unbuckled and dropped his pants pointing his tail and rear up to the camera and reached behind him lifting up the fur near his right butt cheek exposing a U shaped scar on the flesh beneath. Nick enjoyed the thought of mooning this annoying speaker tormenting him.

He remained in his position butt in the air until he heard a buzzing sound and quickly grabbed the gate pulling it open and slipping inside and continued down the hall pulling up his pants as he went until he got to a solid metal door. A slit midway up the door slid open and two beady light green eyes glared at him as he approached.

"Approach and show me your eyes." A stern voice demanded.

Nick approached and put his eyes right in front of the slit staring into the eyes on the other side with a grin on his face. Wow Honey has gone all out lately.

"Fine, it's you." The voice finally relented and he heard a large metal click and the shifting of what sounded like numerous metal slides. "Get in here quick." The voice demanded once the door was opened just enough for a lean handsome fox to slide through. Nick wasted no time as he quickly slid through the entrance.

A large figure with dark gray fur stood beside him staring out the slit. She had loose green fatigues on her lower body and a loose black sleeveless tank top on her upper body. The cream colored tuft of fur atop her head swayed as she slid the panel closed and slid the heavy door back into place with a heavy thud. The cream colored fur continued from the top of her head down her back and to the top half of her medium length tail. As she turned to face him, he saw she wore a necklace with a symbol that appeared to be the skull of a sheep with pointy devil horns atop the head and large menacing cavities in the skull apparently representing eyes and the word 'Believe' below the skull.

The figure stared at him for what felt like minutes with a frown and then suddenly a smile appeared on the face and the figure approached him and gave him a huge hug exclaiming, "About time you made it here."

Once Nick recovered his breath and ensured his rib-cage was not crushed he responded, "Honey, what's with all the extra security? Are you expecting the apocalypse tomorrow?"

Honey escorted him through her den full of stacks of newspapers and magazines to what appeared to be a brown couch with a table covered in clipped articles and various books. She slid a pile of clothing off a corner of the couch onto the floor and indicated a spot for the fox to sit on. As Nick glanced at the table he saw a small poster with sheep and rams jumping over some fences and a partial moon in the dark blue sky with the phrase 'Stay Awake!' at the bottom. He also noticed a book about the history of sheep through the ages at the top of the stack.

Nick: frustrated "Honey, is all this necessary?"

Honey: "More than ever, Nickit. I am just glad you are back and were not taken by 'The Herd'."

Nick: "The Herd?"

Honey: "That's who is partially responsible for all the missing mammals down south."

Nick: "Are they responsible for the lights in the sky as well?"

Honey: "Oh no, those are The Overlords. Those who have ordered 'The Herd' to do their bidding."

Nick: "Overlords?"

Honey: "They control their minions from a hidden bunker and send out the lights to gather their information and locate victims for their experiments. They are beings from another world set upon infiltrating and controlling our whole world. They are using these lights in order discredit the Mayor and bring about the takeover by the agents of 'The Herd' also known as their public moniker 'The Protectors.'"

Finally a name he recognized. Well now he might finally get some answers.

Nick: "The Protectors?"

Honey: "Where have you been? Oh right. They are this new political force which is attempting to take over the entire election and take control over Zootopia in order to do The Overlords bidding."

Nick: "How can this be. Mayor Le Pew is the most popular mayor in the history of Zootopia."

Honey: "Until The Overlords unleashed the lights and began taking mammals so they could turn public sentiment to their side."

Nick: "Who is leading all this?"

Honey: "The sheep of course."

Nick: shaking his head "Of course."

Honey: "Haven't you seen all the banners and slogans of these so called Protectors?"

Nick: "Honey I just arrived back today. I haven't seen anything."

Honey: "Here let me show you."

Honey hands Nick a pile of stickers, pamphlets, banners, buttons, pins, leaflets and newspaper articles. Nick noticed a few common slogans like 'Join the Herd. Vote Protectors' and 'Safety in Numbers: The Protectors.' He knew these supported Honey's narrative but he found it hard to believe the public would buy all this crap. It was obvious scare tactics for political gain. How could anyone fall for such a simplistic scam? Even children should be able to see through this snow job.

Nick: "Honey, nobody could be stupid enough to fall for all this fear mongering."

Honey: "That is where you are wrong my foxy friend. The public is eating it up like Clawhauser gobbling up a box of hot freshly glazed donuts."

The image of Ben inhaling such a box of deliciousness and licking his paws after came bounding into Nick's mind.

Nick: "Oh… Honey can you get me some coffee. The really strong stuff. It's been the longest day ever and I am afraid I am going to need to be awake."

Honey: "Certainly Nickit."

Honey went into the kitchen while Nick thought over what the badger had mentioned. If this scam was working on the public how much of what Honey was saying was the truth? It was always tough to figure out the truths in between the delusions when it came to his friend, but she was often right about a lot of things, but a lot of that had to do with the fact that she would propose about every theory conceivable. Nick grinned and chuckled as he thought about even Honey missing the entire Covenant conspiracy. He chuckled even more thinking of Honey's explanation that it was mold left in the ZPD communications room that was to blame. As his friend arrived back with a warm cup of Joe for him, he wondered how much of truth was there this time.

She handed him the cup and Nick took a large sip of the brown hot liquid in his paws and he almost dropped the cup. His taste buds and brain were on fire it was so strong!

Nick: surprised "Honey, what the heck is this? Did you forget to add water?"

Honey: "Oh that is something called Espresso from the human world. Judy brought me a new special coffee machine from her human friend. I was hesitant to use it because I am sure he knows something about the Woolly Linker conspiracy but won't admit it. But she said he had given it to her and showed me how to use it and drank some herself. I figured he would never do anything to harm her after all that he had gone through to save her, so I finally decided to use it and was amazed at all the new types of drinks it could make. The espresso is incredibly strong and finally a worthy drink for when you want to stay awake."

Nick thought it wasn't half bad and he needed to see about getting such a machine for himself from the furless one.

Nick: "Well it certainly woke me up."

Nick took a few more sips noticing it had a bit of a creamy foam on top. Each sip made his whole mouth feel alive. He realized he needed all his concentration so he downed the whole cup and asked for a second helping. Honey was only too happy to oblige and returned with a large coffee cup of the potent new mixture.

Nick: curiously "Honey, who is in charge of these Protectors?"

Honey: "Well they would have you believe it is this clueless Mayoral candidate, this goat who is a stooge of the sheep, this Capote Grust."

Nick: "I suppose who better to be led by sheep than a goat."

Honey: excited "Finally all my lessons have sunken in! Yes they are being led by a council of sheep who tells this Grust and all The Protectors what to do. They pull all the strings behind the scenes."

Nick: "Do I know any members of this council?"
Honey: "You know Bellwether don't you?"

Nick: stunned "You really think Dawn Bellwether is involved in this? You do realize she is in Zootopia Penitentiary. What is she going to do from there?"

Honey: "She is even more dangerous there. That is where she met agents of the Mob of Seven, a council of seven sheep running the whole operation. Once she joined they became the Flock of Eight or Fleight as they are now more commonly known."

Nick: "Fleight? So this Fleight is behind everything?"

Honey: "Oh that is what they want you to believe, but they are really allied with The Overlords and they will destroy the entire government of Zootopia and subjugate the citizens to horrific atrocities and break their will with oppressive laws. Once they have completely bent the will of the public, they will make way for The Overlords to invade Zootopia and enslave the population."

Nick: unbelieving "Honey why would this Fleight want to enslave their own followers?"

Honey: "Because their true loyal followers will rule the city and the entire region. Those who value freedom, most predators, academics, musicians, anyone questioning The Protectors rule and those who express sexual freedom and are not bound but standard conventions of love all will be enslaved and forced to do the bidding of these Overlords while the Protector loyalists live a life of luxury built upon the backs of all these other citizens."

Nick: shocked "Honey, why would the public go along with any of this?"

Honey: "Because the entire public are sheep. I mean that metaphorically not literally."

Nick was dreading asking this next question but he knew it must be asked and hesitantly inquired, "What can be done to stop this?"

The gleam that instantly appeared in the badgers eye was frightening in its intensity and madness.

Honey: Excited "Ah, what can we do? Well there are many others like myself and you who see the truth. They can undermine the Protectors plans from within. But the first thing we need to do is to begin to educate everyone else about the truth and find dedicated mammals to spread the truth to others."

Nick: "Are there any other actions that can be taken?"

Honey: "Well my work has been more about figuring out what these groups are really doing and helping educate others. Actually taking direct action is more for the activists and radicals."

Nick: "What do the activists and radicals you know plan to do?"

Honey: "Well some have been stealing the Protectors propaganda like you see here and painting vulgar drawings and slogans on the posters and faces of their candidates like putting devil horns on them or drawing sayings like 'Blah Blah Blah' coming out of their mouths."

Nick: "That is not exactly what I was thinking of when I said action. How is that going to help stop them?"

Honey: "One can never underestimate the impact of a good pair of devil horns."

Nick realized at that point that his friend was really not the mammal to ask about what things could be done. That is more his area of expertise after work with the Night Howler case, The Covenant conspiracy, The Savage Movement and the many dozens of large scale criminal operations he and Carrots had foiled. But these had all been about stopping criminals not stopping an entire political movement. The thought of doing something to interfere with democracy was very upsetting. It was a lot easier when the bad guy was definitely bad and the lines were not gray. Nick preferred things simple but these days simple was as rare as a doughnut in Clawhauser's reach remaining uneaten. He supposed he would need the opinions he trusted like Furless and Carrots to resolve this quandary.

Nick: "We then caught up on what each of us had been doing and I made up a cover story for my mission down south and then came over here and hung out in the hot tub until you got home."

Judy: frowning "And he didn't wear any shorts."

Nick: "Come on Carrots cut me some slack. Sometimes the boys just need to be free."

Judy: "I use that as well and prefer all your parts fully covered and not getting the water contaminated."

Nick: "Well it is not like those parts don't get touched by the water when they are covered."

Judy: grimacing "Ewwww don't say that. I don't want that image in my mind."

Drew: understanding "Nick, please just try and wear some shorts when Judy is around."

Nick: pleading "I wasn't doing it in front of her. She was in the bedroom."

Drew puts an arm around Judy giving her a gentle squeeze and lightly rubbing her head.

Drew: "Just honor her wishes. You can do whatever when it is just me around."

Nick: smirking "Well that's no fun."

Judy realizing she had found the truth, "Ah ha! You were just doing that to annoy me."

Nick: grinning slyly "A little of both."

Drew: "Just keep your little foxy parts wrapped when you're in the hot tub for now okay. We have more important things to deal with."

Nick: hurt "They aren't that little."

Drew: "Really Nick, a size comparison? What is this, grade school? I was trying to make a point."

Nick: "Well it is not a fair contest against a human."

Drew: "Nick, you are the only one competing. You both win and lose. Happy?"

Nick: grins "I win!"

Judy: "I forgot this part of having you two guys together."

Drew: "What did I do?"

Judy: "Just don't encourage him."

Drew: "You seem to want the impossible."

Judy: grinning "Of course. Don't I always?"

Drew: "Well what do you make of Honey's thoughts?"

Judy: "The ramblings of a badger with way too much time on her paws?"

Drew: "It would seem like that on the surface but I agree with Nick. There does seem to be some interesting truths in there somewhere."

Nick: "But which?"

Drew: "Well usually it is a simple matter of removing all the sheep from the equation to start, but because sheep are actually involved among many others we can't even discount that."

Judy: "Well we can discount Bellwether."

Drew: "I agree that seems quite unlikely. This Fleight being behind everything. Well no, apparently The Overlords are, but the Fleight are behind The Protectors doing the bidding of The Overlords. I can't discount the possibility that the two events are linked as these The Protectors seemed to come out of nowhere as soon as the lights appeared."

Judy: "Who are these Overlords?"

Drew: "Well they possibly may be associated with the Soviet Union from human Earth."

Nick: "Who are those guys?"

Drew: "Well they were known as the Red Menace which was used during the Cold War to describe the Soviet Union and a related international communist conspiracy."

Nick: "Sounds like another one of Honey's ravings."

Drew: "Yeah except this Red Menace wasn't imaginary, and used the same methods Honey mentioned to overthrow other countries and roll in and take over. The Soviets would use their agents and allies in the governments of other countries they wished to overthrow to create fear, rebellion and oppression to destroy the will of the people, and then they would appear as liberators to restore order and take over as the ultimate oppressors. They would reward their allies and agents with high positions in the new government and make them rich and powerful while living off the toil of the broken people. This happened over and over in countries all over Europe like Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Germany, Austria and many others eventually controlling over two thirds of Europe as well as being involved all over the world doing the same thing in Cuba and parts of Afghanistan, Korea, China and Iran."

Judy: "But why didn't the other countries help to stop this? Why didn't the citizens try to stop them?"

Drew: "The people's spirit was broken. Their own governments and leadership allowed this to happen for personal power and wealth. They sold out the people as they saw the power of The Overlords… sorry I mean the Red Menace sweeping across the globe, and they wanted to be on the winning side. In these Soviet conquered states only a few held positions of power and wealth, and almost all others lived in poverty and terror toiling to barely survive and support these elites. As far as other countries, the Soviets had a massive military with almost ten million personnel with assault rifles and guns like the ones the Covenant had as well as millions of tanks which are like massive guns protected with armor that can move quickly and fire giant bullets that would explode and cause damage like a thousand guns at once. They had countless other types of weapons to cause death and destruction on a catastrophic scale. And finally they had nuclear weapons."

Judy: looking incredibly sick and shaking "Nuclear weapons?"

Drew: "Bombs capable of destroying an entire city and millions of mammals instantly and making the entire area around unlivable for numerous years. They had thousands of these."

Judy: sobbing "Why? What kinds of monsters are these? How can these humans be such horrible evil creatures? And now they mean to destroy us as well?"

Drew hugged the little wet gray bundle and tried to calm her. He looked over to his fox friend who looked like he had eaten some really bad fish and wanted to vomit violently as he held his paw tightly over his muzzle.

Nick slowly gets up and gingerly walks over to the bathroom and closes the door. Some sounds reminiscent of an all night frat kegger are heard coming from behind the door while the despondent bunny curled in a ball and shook sobbing.

Drew now realized he had been a bit too truthful to his innocent Zootopian friends. That potentially the very worst of humanity was now on the verge of infecting this pristine innocent land. The very thing he had been trying so hard to protect his new friends from since the moment he heard of the danger to his bunny friend's land was now possibly about to happen. He had been so careful about what was allowed into this land. He had every tiny nut and bolt cataloged and tracked and yet somehow these human UAVs and potentially an entire force of Soviets or Overlords had somehow come to this world and were set to turn this land into who knows what. Drew suddenly began to feel incredibly nauseous and had to reluctantly leave his little bunny and headed to the bathroom upstairs in the master bedroom and stumbled to the toilet. He barely got the lid off in time as he bent over and retched trying to control his stomach and then vomited violently shaking. His arms felt so weak as he gripped the rim of the toilet as he thought of the potential future to come for this beautiful world.