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.

31. Reynard's Story – Part 3A

Reynard's Story – Part 3A

This is the first of several sections of the Third Part of Reynard's Story. We learn of a massive plan by Reynard to trick the other bosses in the surrounding districts to help save hundreds of innocents. We also learned what happened to Aza's parents and find our fox couple has some new very strange relatives. Jack Savage goes on his first secret mission and learns being a secret agent is not all it's cracked up to be. The chapter is Rating M because of scenes referencing sexual abuse and extreme cruelty.

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Zoodate: Zoodate: (-34 Years) (32 years before the events at the end of Zootopia The Movie)

Five knives left the paws of the fox in a split second and almost a simultaneous thunk could be heard as all five landed around the target each missing by barely the width of a claw.

"What!" The fox savagely spat at the shaking cheetah standing in the back of the room surrounded by knives afraid to move.

The cheetah finally regained his composure and managed to stutter, "Um… Boss… I have those reports you wanted."

The fox charged over to the trembling cheetah and snatched the stack of papers from his paws and quickly began flipping through them. His expression was a mixture of disgust as well as malevolence and thoughtfulness. Certainly a strange mixture of emotions, but this was a fox whose whole entire life had been one big contradiction. For this was Red as he was known to his kids those he took from the streets with nowhere to go and gave a family and future, or Reynard to those who did business with him, or Red Death to those who crossed him, or Boss to those who worked for him, or Renny to those who he called the loves of his life, his wife Hermeline Azadel or Aza as she was known, his four kits and his sister Marion.

It was that last one, his sister Marion, who had put him in this foul mood these past few weeks, as she had left her secure home at the fortified estate Maupertuis where she had happily lived with her brother Reynard, Aza and her two nieces and two nephews for many years. But Marion had decided to strike out on her own marrying a fox named John Wilde and becoming pregnant with his child. She wished to be away from her brother and his family to spend time with her husband, just the two of them, before they had their kit. Reynard of course had her followed and found out quickly exactly where she was living and had eyes on her making sure she was doing fine. She and John Wilde had found a place to live in a poor rundown section of town called Happytown which was a predator only development. It was southeast of the Docks District in the Rainforest District. Reynard got special permission from Sweet Lou, the boss of the Rainforest District, to allow a few of his men to watch her from time to time, but do nothing else.

His men knew to tiptoe around the angry frustrated fox while he dealt with whatever demons were inside of him caused by the loss of his baby sister from his side for the first time in his life. For she was his first and brightest light, and it tore him up to have her outside of his control where he could protect her and provide her everything she could possibly need. Everything except privacy apparently, as Marion wished to be away from her nosy brother who had injected himself into her personal life far too much for her tastes. But she didn't understand that her brother knew she was fragile after the incredible traumas she suffered as a young child, and he only wanted to be sure she was safe and well taken care of. He begged her to stay with him and his family, but she was stubborn, and when she set her mind to something, it was nearly impossible to change it.

So to take his mind off this loss, Reynard had focused his intentions on a project he had been planning for awhile concerning activities that were occurring in other districts. These were practices that he despised and had eliminated from The Docks District as soon as he had become boss. But other districts had child slavery, sex slaves, many of them children, as well as prostitution, many of whom were minors. Reynard could not abide by children being so victimized especially in districts where he now had homes for his kids, Red's kids. He had now opened up large homes or warehouses in every district staffed by his former kids now grown, to help those kids on the streets with no place to go. The worst of the worst is what he wanted, and he provided them homes, a family, safety and food. His kids all learned skills which would allow them to get jobs and be able to provide for themselves when they were older.

But now in those same districts, children were being exploited in horrific ways as slaves, usually abused and malnourished, or like most of the little girls and a few boys as sex slaves in the sex clubs. Here children were that needed his help right where he had his kids and no one was helping them. He had asked many of the bosses that he had relations with to shut down any of these operations. Some like Sweet Lou did as he asked. Others merely just took the operations more underground. And others just ignored him completely. He was left with no choice but to take matters into his own paws and free these kids himself. The problem was that these were on other bosses territories many times run by their employees with their blessings. Running any kind of operation like Reynard was planning was a violation of the rules of the court of King Nobel, the ruler of the underworld. But Reynard could see no other option at this point and had begun paying for information on all these operations all over the city. The still trembling cheetah was bringing this collected information to his boss for perusal and planning.

For Reynard had been formulating a plan. A devilish sneaky underhanded plan which suited him quite well, but he would need help, a lot of help. The downsides and risks were great, and the risks to his people as well as the potential fallout from all this was quite significant. But he could not sit by and watch all these innocents mistreated. He realized an important part of this plan depended on the youngest and smallest of his followers. But that follower would have help, a lot of help. He decided to visit this very special follower and see what he thought. He knew how he would have reacted at that same age with an opportunity like this, and figured this particular follower would do the same as they shared a similar soul and personality.

Reynard went to visit his kids at The Warehouse as he called it. This was one of the few things that could get his mind off the problems with his willful sister. That and seeing his incredible wife and gorgeous kits. He would never take out any such frustrations or anger on those special ones nor his adopted kids as he loved them more than anything, and being with them always removed the black stains that collected on him constantly making the brutal decisions of a crime boss.

He met with each of the kids, sometimes in groups, and some individuals in cases where the kids needed some special alone time if they were having problems obeying the rules, getting into fights, or trouble fitting in, and would listen to them and tell them about his plans for them and how important the family was and how they were so much stronger together than being alone.

While he loved visiting his kids, his trip here today had ulterior motives. He was with a very special member of his organization, a weasel who was his spy master. It may seem strange that Reynard would hire and trust a weasel after what happened to him and his sister as kits, but Reynard was long past holding any grudges against any species, and treated everyone as individuals. It was all about what they could do for him and how well they could do it. Granted species played an important role in his organization. Large mammals such as large felines, elephants, rhinos, etc. all were primarily enforcers, the muscle of the group. Smaller mammals such as raccoons, weasels, foxes, skunks and badgers usually had roles related to theft, information gathering and lookouts. But Reynard above anyone knew that your role and your abilities were not strictly locked to your species as he had proven on many occasions. He was meeting one such mammal like himself who was capable of so much more than his size and age would indicate. This one special individual was the real reason he was here and the visit to The Warehouse was a cover for his real plans.

As the door opened and the reason for being here hopped into the room, Reynard noticed the piercing light blue eyes of the bunny taking in everything in the room instantly as if calculating every possibility. The weasel shut the door silently and Reynard stood up and met his young secret agent, a bunny named Jack Savage, with a pawshake and indicated a seat across from the fox's chair to sit in. Jack hopped up into the medium high seat with a bit of difficulty as he was only a small six year old bunny, but Reynard resisted helping him as he knew this bunny could do it himself with great effort and would not appreciate any assistance. Reynard patiently waited a half a minute while the bunny figured out how to hop up the back and sides and move himself over to the front and sat down with a triumphant humph.

Reynard gave the young bunny an affectionate smile as that was his true feelings for this strange addition to his kids, and looked him in the eyes, "Hi Jack, how has your time here been going?"

The bunny gave him a slight smile back answering in a strange accent, "You can dispense with the bloody pleasantries sir, Red, I know why you are jolly well really here."

The fox was taken back a bit and wondered curiously, "Pray tell my young friend, why am I here?"

The bunny looked to his boss and then to the weasel standing behind him in the shadows, "You are here today specially because you need my help getting something sorted. Your entire trip here was so you had an excuse to see your little bunny mate."

The bunny didn't say it with any pride or ego. He stated this as if it was a fact and nothing else. Reynard was impressed, but was curious how Jack knew, "How did you come up with this theory? Could I have not just been coming to see how you and all my kids were adapting?"

The light blue eyes seemed to search deep into the fox's soul and he answered, "You would already have had reports and know how I was progressing. While I was in fights and arguments, they would have told you I was merely standing up for myself and proving I would be no ones to bully and abuse no matter who it was. My progress in my studies and exercises you have given me have been difficult, but I have been quite smashing mastering them. So you would know the answer to the question about how my time has been going. What was different was the fact that you have this gentlemammal behind you here for my interview alone and no others."

The fox considered the young bunny for a bit and then asked, "And what do you suspect this gentlemammal's… no I can't call him a gentlemammal… this mammal's role is?"

Jack stared briefly as the weasel locked eyes with him and then turned to the fox, "He is quite dodgy and certainly involved in espionage and deception."

"And how do you know that Jack?" Reynard wondered.

"Because it is in the small habits, the tiny tells. When I watched him outside he would always stay in the shadows and make himself as invisible as possible. Even in here he is trying to stay hidden. He keeps his eyes and thoughts hidden. He looks at every tiny detail, but without apparently looking at anything. As he looked at all others as well as myself, he judged us regardless if we were an apparent threat or not valuing each of us as a commodity and potential source of information." The bunny stated matter-of-fact.

Reynard glanced back at his spymaster who nodded back at him and then turned to the bunny, "Very good Jack, you passed your first test. I am indeed here only to see you. I have a task specifically suited to your talents, your size and age. It is very dangerous and incredibly difficult, but you would not be alone. I would give you every resource possible to help you complete your mission. The stakes are high, and the risk great. Does this sound like something that would interest you?"

The bunny looked to the weasel and back to the fox, "Blimey, I am gobsmacked by the offer, but I am far from trained and prepared. But such a mission is why I am here in the first place working for you specifically. I am fully yours to command sir, Red. Is the prize valuable?"

The fox considered his young apprentice and nodded his head, "Yes Jack, the prize is the most valuable one there is… the lives of innocent children."

The bunny considered his boss's answer, "Brilliant. And what would you need me to do sir?"

Reynard introduced the weasel indicating for him to step forward into the light and nodding at the young bunny, "This is Felix Razel, my spy master. He has taken quite an interest in you and has been following your studies closely. In fact he has been the one actively increasing your challenges lately. What we need is for you to infiltrate an operation you are quite familiar with. We need you to become a slave again."

If the bunny was frightened or shocked, he didn't show it. Instead he carefully looked at each of the mammals in the room and finally answered, "It is not something I relish experiencing again, but being a secret agent is serious work and not something pleasant and glamorous. What do you want me to do sir?"

Reynard motioned to his spy master giving him the floor, and speaking with a silky voice, Felix informed the young bunny, "You will be my eyes and ears in the slave trade. I need you to identify who's in charge and the locations of all children enslaved in their organization. The best way is to figure out how to get close to the mammal in charge. You need to make yourself especially valuable to them somehow and gain their trust."

Jack considered this, the wheels spinning in his young head, "How will I contact you, and how much time do I have?"

"Two days for each job." The weasel answered, "We will surgically implant a pouch under your fur near your belly where you will have just enough space for a small knife, lock picking tools, a tracking device and the smallest short range radio in existence which we had specially made for this mission. In addition you will have my very smallest agents keeping constant eyes on you the entire time."

The bunny seemed unphased with all of this and wondered, "How will these agents be able to remain unseen?"

The weasel grinned at him, "I have enlisted a very elite group of the smallest mammals in Zootopia to keep hidden and to be my greatest sources of espionage. They will keep a constant watch on you and even if they meet an obstacle they can't get past, they have the tracker which can locate you. We will setup the exact times where you should turn on or use the transmitter."

Jack then thought about all the implications, "I will have to be away from The Warehouse for several weeks at least. How do you bloody well explain that?"

"You are going to fake an illness tomorrow while in bed and away from all other kids. I will give you some pills which will give you the apparent symptoms of an infectious disease. We will arrange with our normal doctor to have you isolated and removed from the other children for their safety. They will treat you at a special clinic in isolation. If anyone wishes to see you, we will tell them the risk of infection is too great and you are still unconscious. This will give you the cover while you undergo the operation. I will personally oversee your training for this mission for at least a week before you go into the field, and you will have the surgical operation as soon as we move you from The Warehouse here so you will actually be under medical care. While you are recovering, we will make sure a couple of the caregivers here will see you and report back to the others. You will be unconscious, monitored and in isolation so it will all appear as if you are suffering from an infectious disease." Felix informed the bunny and his new pupil.

Jack thought for a moment and spoke to his new boss and his boss's boss, "The plan seems sound. I will work on thinking of ways of getting close to the slavery boss. I am assuming you want to know who he is and where he is located in order to snatch him?"

Reynard answered him, "Yes Jack, optimally we can convince him to give up the location of the kids, but in case that fails, your personal knowledge of what you and our tiny agents have observed and any lists or documentation kept by this boss are crucial to finding all these kids in a short amount of time. Our window to grab them all is very tight so will have to do it all in just a few hours in the middle of the night. I do not want to leave any behind if I can help it. That is why your mission is so critical to our success."

Jack responded to the two adults, "I would not want to leave any mammals to suffer what I did. I will do my very best."

Reynard responded with a gentle smile, "I never doubted otherwise. But don't put any undo pressure on yourself if things don't go to plan. It is your ability to improvise when things go to shit that will show whether you are an excellent agent or just an average one. Think of a situation where everything goes wrong as an opportunity to prove yourself. The most important thing is to keep your cover intact and keep yourself safe. Do not take any undo risks. It is better we have you for the other missions than lose you trying to take unnecessary risks to get every single child. Unfortunately such is the way of life, sacrificing a few kids so we can save hundreds is an important fact you need to recognize. We can always try and find another way to save them in the future. Do you understand all this?"

The bunny looked Reynard right in his eyes, nodded his head and responded seriously, "I do sir, Red. Do not take any unnecessary risks and get whatever information I can safely. If something happens to me, I risk the lives of hundreds of other innocent children. I will be jolly careful sir."

"Good… I am going to leave you with Felix here for a bit and he will instruct you when and how to use the pills and exactly what to say to whom in order to get the doctor sent for immediately. You need to know exactly what symptoms you will need to describe or fake in addition to the ones generated by the pills." Reynard instructed his young charge.

He then left the room to have a brief discussion with Silvia to get an update on how everyone was doing at The Warehouse.

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The plan was massive in scope requiring numerous parts and resources, contingency plans and alternate plans. It was all planned to be executed in a five day span with full invasions of the Sahara Square, Savanna Central and Tundratown districts and smaller scale attacks on three sex clubs operating in the Meadowlands and two sex clubs and a prostitution ring operating in the Downtown district. Reynard would need Jack Savage in place two days prior in Sahara Square to gather intel on the child slavery ring and then move him on liberation day to the next region in Tundratown for undercover operations. The thing that he was depending on was bosses keeping everything that happened compartmentalized between their districts. He was assuming these bosses would perform a full review of anything that happened over several days before taking any actions. Each of these districts condoned or actively participated in each of these horrific abuses of children, but publicly they denied having any connection to any such operations, and that was what Reynard was banking on to keep word from spreading in advance.

If they did find that the district was prepared for his operations, they would have to switch to a different district and pull Jack out if he was already embedded altering their timetable accordingly. One thing that hampered operations is that they were forbidden to kill anyone during each attack and the safety of the children was paramount. The thing Reynard was hoping worked in his favor was that the other districts men would be unauthorized to kill anyone either until they got authorization from their bosses and hopefully they would be long gone before that happened. During the initial attack anyone witnessing their presence was to be gagged, subdued and removed along with the kids and patrons of the establishments. Each of these would be sorted on the ships as all attacks would be carried out in stealth via numerous ships that would arrive with the crews and carry everyone back to hidden ports in the Docks District.

Reynard would be coordinating operations on the ground during his scheduled visits to each of those districts housings developments for his kids. He was allowed a security detail of five which would consist of his spy master, Coal, two top lieutenants and Alexei his real security, the biggest and toughest Amur Tiger (Siberian Tiger) known to exist. He would be visiting his kids during the evening which he was allowed to do, but secretly coordinating all operations later that night using secure two way radio communication modified by his spy master Felix.

For most of this work, he was hiring mercenaries which he had used on many occasions in order to minimize the presence of any of his actual gang members in the territory. If any of his own people were found to be present in the district besides himself and the five authorized members, it could mean open warfare between his district and the one that were actively involved in operations. Stealth, the elements of surprise, and quick quiet operations were vital to the success of each mission.

It wasn't that Reynard thought each of the bosses wouldn't figure out who was behind each attack fairly soon, but it was making sure they didn't have any direct evidence of his involvement that was most important. Most likely each boss would be very embarrassed that a large scale operation had been executed in their territory and seek to cover up the fact that it occurred in order to not lose face in front of the other bosses. But eventually word would get around that such attacks occurred and bosses would talk. Hopefully by the time this occurred, all operations would be complete and all of the children would be safely moved to secure locations. Even after each operation, the logistics were enormous as they would need to try and return children to their parents or their rightful guardians once they were all medically cleared. All other operatives as well as captured hostages would need to be medically treated as well. Employees of the bosses would be held in isolation for release once operations were completed at the end of the five day period. The fate of patrons or voluntary employees of the slavery and sex clubs were yet to be determined, but they were to be unharmed until outside of the districts and their crimes, if any, were reviewed.

Jack Savage had successfully executed Felix's plan pretending to remain sick in bed while all the other kids were busy in classes or doing chores. When one of the older kids working at the facility found him and left to find the headmistress, Jack took the pills preparing for the next part of the plan. It was not a pleasant time for the bunny as the pills caused enlargement of the lymph nodes, diarrhea, vomiting and a temporary rise in his body temperature. For his part, Jack would fake fever, chills, headaches and muscle pain. The bunny hated to soil his bed and scare his caretakers so, as they had been nothing but kind and loving, something he had never experienced before. But such were the sacrifices of being a secret agent, as fooling innocents to maintain his cover was just part of the job and the sooner he got used to this the better. A very concerned Silvia saw the diarrhea and vomit in bed and all the other symptoms, and immediately called their doctor who happened to be available immediately.

The doctor checked Jack over and had Silvia feel Jack's swollen lymph nodes and the fever displayed on his thermometer to further confirm his diagnosis. On occasion kids had pretended to be sick, and showing Silvia these symptoms that could not be faked was part of the plan. Not that any kid would have gone to the extremes Jack had, but Jack was not a normal kid and his caretakers learned to never underestimate him. The doctor explained to Silvia that the bunny had Tularemia, also known as Rabbit Fever, which was infectious and could be spread to foxes, beavers, skunks and numerous other species, many of which were housed at The Warehouse. He explained that wolves should be okay, but she needed to shower and change her clothes immediately and have her current clothes burned as she could potentially spread it to the kids. They had the small bunny immediately put into a sealed bag with oxygen and carefully carried him out and taken to the doctor's clinic for treatment.

Jack was kept under observation for a few hours until the symptoms disappeared and he was then put into surgery for the implantation of the secret pouch just large enough for the tools he would need for his mission. Once he was in recovery, Silvia and a few others were allowed to check on him to see that he was in isolation and resting comfortably. His fever had been reduced and he would just need a few weeks for recovery. They were told he would be moved to a clinic downtown as soon as he was stable where he could be better treated as well as better isolated to prevent any possible spread of the disease.

The bunny was then moved, not to the clinic, but instead to the private quarters of Felix Razel where he was woken to begin his intensive week long immersion training to learn all the skills he would need to know for his mission. For any other six year old mammal it may have taken many months to master the skills, but this was no ordinary six year old. Jack was taught basic lock picking using the tools in order to remove any pawcuffs on him and open most doors and basic locks. He was taught how to get out of most any normal type of restraint using the knife in his pouch as well as movements or common objects that might be available. He was taught how to use his senses even blindfolded to keep a mental map in his head of any place he may be taken. The list of skills was long and difficult, but Jack took to their learning like he was born to do them as if they were innate skills given to him by his dead mother. Nor was Jack left without training on how to ingratiate himself to someone so that they found him useful. Every situation and individual was different, so Felix went over all the possibilities with Jack and how best to know what would work on a particular person. Jack was then told how to spot his watchers and let them know where he was if he was out of contact with them for some reason. He was also instructed on the exact times and manner to contact his handlers in the area and via his communications device.

While Jack worked on his training, all the other components of the operation were readied with Reynard's men and mercenaries trained on the use of chloroform, tranquilizer darts and proper methods to silence and remove any witnesses. Kids would be silenced as well, but only for the protection of the mission, and all were trained on how to handle the children and keep them calm during the whole process. It was possible that some of the kids had Stockholm syndrome and may attempt to warn their captors, so all kids were treated as if they were at risk of this because of the incredible danger and potential shitstorm if word got out to the district boss.

Jack was then put into play by an independent agent of Felix who had a cover as a known slave trader. He sold Jack to a contact who was a known gang member of Isengrim the Wolf, the district boss, whose job was to buy slaves for use in the Sahara Square District. The agent did a good job of haggling for a great price for Jack in order to avoid suspicion as small nimble bunny paws were in high demand. Jack did a good job of acting defiant and earned extra pay for the agent because of how spirited and energetic he was further solidifying the cover. Jack was then taken to a pen area where a couple other kids were being held while their fates were decided. The agent then released Felix's team of tiny rodents who took off scurrying in the direction Jack was taken.

As a bobcat named Grenz came in to look over the new acquisitions, Jack caught his eye and when the bobcat came over to examine the tiny defiant bunny, Jack asked, "Hey, I want to see whoever is in charge."

Grenz grinned and replied derisively, "Yeah and I want to fuck Zella Shelley too but that ain't happin'."

(Note: Zella Shelley is a famous beautiful sexy female snow leopard singer during this period)

Jack looked at the bobcat, taking his measure, and responded, "I can make it worth your while."

Grenz laughed at that, "Really now? And how would that be? Ya got some cash up your ass we didn't find, cause we searched everything on ya."

The bunny looked unbothered replying, "I have some information for him. A location where he can find more bunnies for the taking."

The bobcat looked amused by that, "Sure, sure… could it start with Bunny and end with burrow?" The bobcat chortled at his joke.

Jack looked unperplexed, "No… I mean in the city. Was together with a whole group of kids on a field trip. I can tell him where."

"And why in the fuck would you do that runt?" Grenz asked glaring at the bunny.

"So he would let me go." Jack answered and upon seeing the bobcat laughing at him continued, "I figured six for the price of one is a good deal for him."

Grenz grinned at him, "You'd sell out your buddies?"

Jack grinned back, "Don't know a one of them. My mom sent me on the stupid trip and they spent the entire time picking on me for being so small."

The bobcat seemed to understand, "Ah… payback… I can understand that. But Fredo don't make no deals with slaves. Especially not some runt bunny barely off his mom's tit."

The bunny decided to enhance his story to make it more believable, "Well I really don't have a mom. She died when I was little. I was living with my aunt and I annoyed her all the time which is why she got rid of me forcing me on the stupid trip."

Grenz considered that, "Well that makes a lot more sense. I mean what mom would send such a youngun' alone. Fuck, my mom hated me and she would never've done that. But I agree with your aunt. You are a fucking annoying little runt."

Jack looked up at the bobcat, "Maybe… but don't mean I am wrong. I'll give up the other kids so I can go back and annoy her instead of you."

Grenz laughed at that, "Good one kid. Tell you what, I'll take ya to the boss just cause I think you would entertain him. You can try and make a deal or whatever. Don't give a shit."

Fredo was a large transcaspian urial with large curving horns which he had decorated with gold jewelry. He was in his office on the second floor of a run down three story office building that had seen better days. Jack had his paws tied together with a simple cord and had a collar around his neck with a leash. He was led into the boss' office.

The urial didn't even seem to notice the visitors as he leaned back in his chair and had his feet up on his desk reading a magazine.

Grenz stood in front of the desk holding the leash and patiently waiting until the boss noticed him. The bobcat knew better than to interrupt his boss. He had waited for fifteen minutes or more sometimes before being noticed. However after a minute, his young slave didn't understand the rules, and had become impatient and started to tap his foot loudly on the floor. Grenz pulled on the leash and glared at the bunny trying to warn him. If this little runt was not quiet, he may end up paying the price. The bunny stopped thankfully and the boss seemed to have not heard the disturbance, or so he thought.

After a couple of minutes, the urial suddenly stood up and bent over the desk grabbing the leash from Grenz paws and yanking upward pulling the bunny into the air hanging by his neck with his legs thrashing helplessly. Fredo continued to glare at him until he finally stopping moving going limp gasping for breath trying to put his paws in between the collar and his neck to make enough space for him to get a breath. The boss stared into the piercing light blue eyes of the tiny bunny and then tossed him down onto the table.

Grenz started to open his mouth to speak when the boss put his hoof up to silence him, and stood staring at the bunny sizing him up, "You have a death wish fuzz ball?"

Jack coughed a bit and finally managed to speak, "No… no sir… I just wanted to talk to you."

The urial turned to the bobcat who looked back uncomfortably and then back to the bunny and laughed, "Really now… just a friendly chat with me. You really do have a death wish."

Jack looked unphased by the boss replying confidently, "I figured you would want to meet me. Figured we could make a deal."

Fredo turned to the bobcat with an annoyed look, "Grenz, is this a fucking joke? Didn't figure you had the balls to try something like this."

Grenz quickly replied fearfully, "Ah… no… no sir… just figured you'd get a kick out of this runt."

Fredo considered this and nodded at him turning back the bunny, "We'll see. I do like my amusements. But he is too small for anything fun… but he is quite fluffy."

Jack stared up at Fredo without fear, "I am much more useful than that. I thought we could make a deal. My name is..."

Fredo interrupted the bunny, "Death Wish… I like it. Not sure how long you will be around to enjoy it. So wear it proudly while you have it."

Jack smiled at the boss, "That sounds great sir. So you are willing to take my deal?"

The urial was confused for a minute trying to figure out what the bunny was talking about until he finally realized and cackling malevolently, "Oh… you thought I was talking about letting you go. That's a good one. Never seen one so optimistic before. Guess you have no clue about your situation."

The bunny considered the boss and then responded, "I am a slave. Your property to do with as you please."

Fredo was surprised by the answer, "Well now… maybe you aren't a complete idiot. You are just living up to your name. So what is this deal you had for me?"

Jack grinned at the urial happily explaining his deal, "As I told your helper here, I know where you can get six bunnies in the city in trade for me. I came here with them, and have no love for them as they all bullied me like tailholes."

The boss glanced at the bobcat who had raised his eyebrows hoping his boss was amused. Fortunately for Grenz he was, "Well now Death Wish, what's to stop me from pulling the information out of you for free and having myself seven bunnies?"

The small bunny considered his words, "Because it would be bad for business. You couldn't be certain the information I gave you was good, and you would harm a valuable asset that you paid quite a lot for."

Fredo stared at the bunny in shock for a moment and then broke out laughing, "Oh… ha ha… that is good. Thanks for bringing me this one Grenz… you can leave. I'll figure out what to do with Death Wish here and let you know."

Grenz got a slight smile, nodded at the boss, and promptly turned and quickly left the room.

Jack grinned up at the boss and put his tied paws up toward the boss as if to shake his hoof, "So do we have a deal sir?"

Fredo glared at the tiny bunny, "There's one problem with your deal Death Wish. There's a good reason why we work through middlemammals, very low risk. Sending a team to attempt to snatch up six bunnies downtown is about as risky as it gets. I'd rather attempt a heist… better risk to reward. The reason you were picked was cause you were an easy target of opportunity. Those agents are experts at finding perfect targets alone, with no witnesses, for a quick snatch and grab. They know about low risk and that's what they do for a living and why we pay them well."

Jack looked at the boss hesitantly, "So… you are saying… it's too high risk?"

The urial smiled, "Yes… now you get it. One bunny in the hoof is worth six in the bush."

The bunny looked disappointed for a moment and then brightened, "Well if that's no good… can I work for you? It's gotta be better than being with my aunt anyway."

Fredo chortled and grinned, "Where the hell did they find you? So you think this is a job interview?"

"I can do stuff for you. Others always underestimate me." The bunny offered.

The urial considered that thoughtfully, "I bet they do. Humor me… what can you do?"

Jack had a good answer for this, "I can be your eyes and ears, boss. I can hear all kinds of things without others knowing as they usually ignore me. I can find out who is loyal to you… if any other slaves are planning anything… who is stealing from you… really anything you need sir."

The boss actually took a moment to consider what the bunny offered, "An interesting offer. Tell you what… I have a few slaves and others I have some suspicions about. You bring me information on them and I will consider your offer."

Jack's face brightened, "I won't let you down boss."

The boss called Grenz back and had the bunny assigned to a certain work crew he had been having problems with recently. They told the bunny to just mainly keep quiet and stay out of the way keeping his ears open for anything the boss should know about and just do his job.

Jack was introduced to the work detail consisting of a young bear of around fifteen named Chucker, a seventeen year old skunk named Frankie, a sixteen year old elk name Barker, and a middle-aged warthog named Wilson who was their overseer.

Grenz presented their new charge to the group cutting the cord on his front paws and handing the collar leash to Wilson, "This is fresh meat. His name is Death Wish so make sure he don't try ta tell ya otherwise. He don't listen so good so just break him. But don't be hurtin' him. He's a littlin' so go easy. You know what to do."

The warthog nodded his head and Grenz left Jack to the tender mercies of this new group. He looked up hopefully at his new friends, "Hi… it's nice to meet yaaaaaagh!"

Wilson decided to greet him lifting the bunny by the neck with his right hoof choking him and pressing him against a wall.

Chucker laughed at this display, "So cute and fluffy. We can use him to wipe our asses with."

Frankie grinned, "They gave ya a pretty good name. Not sure how long you're gonna survive around here, but good advice. Keep your yapper shut."

The warthog released the bunny and he dropped to the ground laying on his side clutching his neck.

Barker glanced at the warthog sarcastically telling him, "Oh don't hurt him. He's just a little bunny."

Wilson laughed at that, "Just tickling him. He'll know when I'm hurtin' him."

Frankie walked over and stepped on Jack's front paws causing him to wince in pain, but he kept his mouth shut, "Good. New meat is learning to keep quiet. Your ass is ours now, to do with what we want. So just shut your fuckin' mouth and do what we say and ya just might survive."

They dragged the bunny around checking on other groups of slaves reviewing their progress. Wilson would check with any foremen or owners to make sure the slaves were behaving properly. Any receiving complaints received a not so subtle cuffing across the head, arm twisting, punch in the stomach, kick to the groin, strangling, or a variety of many other punishments the group of slaves wished to distribute. Wilson just stood back and let them have their fun grinning.

This would all seem quite normal except to the trained eye of the bunny who noticed that during some of punishments where all three surrounded the subject for a beating, they were pulling their punches and in the scuffle the subject of the beatings would give the skunk usually a small bag which Jack's trained hearing could just make out the clink of some coins or other metal. The skunk would glance at the contents quickly and drop it into his bag and reach in and give the supposed subject of beatings various foods such as a small loaf of bread, a piece of fruit, dried fruit or fish, nuts, cookies or random other items. In some cases notes would be passed and writing devices such as pens and a pad of paper would be given to the subject.

Jack noticed the trio of slaves didn't wear collars. Only Jack got the honor of being dragged around by the collar. They went all over the district visiting pockets of slaves with the occasional exchanges of little bags and notes for food or other items continuing throughout most of the day. The group was quite talented at doing this so well that only the expert eyes of a thief, magician or trained secret agent would have even noticed anything was even going on. Jack continued to keep a mental picture of each of the locations where the slaves were located. The bunny didn't think the bored warthog, following them around yanking him by the neck when he didn't move fast enough, even knew what was actually happened. That is until they stopped for a meal break. Wilson tied Jack up to a post on the wall far too high for the bunny to reach, and joined the other three where he heard a crate being opened and the tiny sounds of clinking which had to be the collected bags being transferred. He caught the warthog whisper to the three, "Nice haul. Let's get ya guys setup with some goodies."

Jack heard the sound of a cabinet being opened then smelled the faint whiff of food and some clinking of metal. After a few minutes, the warthog walked outside and tossed a couple of old carrots and a piece of moldy bread on the ground within reach of the bunny. Jack nibbled on the offered food and listened while the four other mammals laughed inside telling jokes, stories and acting quite chummy. Jack didn't learn anything of import from their discussions except to understand that these four knew each other quite well and were thick as thieves.

After about an hour they came outside and decided to have some fun with the bunny.

As Jack sat down on the ground, Frankie leaned down low looking him in the eye and speaking in a baby voice, "Awww da littlin' bunny is feelin' lonely aren't ya?"

Chucker followed the skunk's example leaning down making sad eyes, "Feelin' all by yourself. Would ya like to feel useful?"

The bear stared at him nodding his head. Then the skunk and Barker did the same nodding their heads while the warthog stood back leaning against a wall looking amused.

Frankie grabbed the bunnies chin and moved his head up and down in a forced nod, "See… looks like he agrees. He's lonely and wants ta be useful. Let's help him."

The bear leaned down and picked up the frightened bunny, and the skunk and elk backed away about five meters from each other. Chucker looked at the warthog who tied the bunnies paws and feet together tightly and removed the collar.

Frankie grinned at the bunny, "You're about to be useful Death Wish. Oh look… his nose is quivering and he's shakin'. How cute."

Chucker laughed at that, "Yeah… don't worry Death Wish. We don't miss… that often."

The bear then tossed the bunny into the air at the elk who caught him and quickly tossed him to the skunk.

Frankie laughed heartlessly, "Finally something small enough for me to play with for a change." He then tossed Jack high into the air and he was caught by the bear.

The three tried backing away from each other even farther and then had a contest to see how high into the air they could toss the helpless bunny.

Jack was terrified. His quivering nose and shaking was not acting. It was quite real. The kids at The Warehouse were pretty mean and sometimes cruel, but they never physically hurt him. These three saw him as a ball or plaything and not even a living creature. They would setup some objects on the ground and use him as a bowling ball. A couple times during the tossing he got dropped and took some painful falls. If they had not partially caught him before dropping him, he could have had serious internal injuries or broken bones. He was fortunate to only have bruises all over so far. But each time he was tossed he cringed expecting to feel the pain he knew was coming. With his paws and feet tied there was little he could do to protect himself and land gracefully. He had to depend on these cruel sadistic creatures to catch him. Even most of their catches resulted in excruciating pain.

Finally after almost thirty minutes of this, the warthog interrupted their fun, "Okay... okay... enough. Let's stop before we break something. I think Death Wish is getting a good idea of how much worth he has to us aren't ya Death Wish?" The warthog grinned into the face of the terrified bunny putting the collar back on him and removing the bindings on his paws and feet.

Barker shook his head, "Why the fuck they give him to us? What did they expect us to teach him?"

Frankie had an answer, "Think he was a reward for our good work. He does make a fluffy toy."

Chucker agreed, "Guess they gave him to us so everything would be an improvement for him from now on. He'll be beggin' for manual labor. Don't matter if he can't hop if his little paws work."

Wilson was pulling Jack across the ground with his leash, "Come on Death Wish, we have some more stops."

But Jack couldn't move. He wasn't faking. His whole body was one big pain. His muscles were cramped and screamed. His nerves were all jabbing into him making even the slightest movement an exercise in misery. He tried to hop but the pain was too great and he fell over being dragged along the ground by the neck. The torment of the slow choking preferable to any attempt to move.

Frankie stared at him with a frown, "Ah fuck… we broke him."

Wilson shook his head glaring at the three, "You broke him… you carry him."

The warthog lifted the bunny off the ground and tossed him to the bear who put him under one arm and followed behind the warthog.

The bear spent the rest of the day as the designated bunny bag carrier between their stops. It was all Jack could do to focus on remembering the locations as the excruciating pain in his body was distracting him. Fortunately the trio went easy on him the rest of the day finishing their rounds and tossing him into a pen with a water bowl, a pot to shit into and a small filthy mattress in the corner. It took several minutes for Jack to drag himself over to the mattress and collapse. He had to keep stopping to rest and let his screaming muscles have a brief break. An hour later a slot in the door opened and some old vegetables were tossed in, but he had no energy to crawl over to retrieve them. He tried to close his eyes and sleep, but the pain kept waking him. His mind went in and out of consciousness until he thought he heard tiny voices. He figured he was dreaming, but he felt the pain, terrible excruciating pain. If this was a dream, it really sucked. But no, he definitely heard voices sounding very far away and tiny.

"We found him guys."

"Can you see him?"

"Yeah… but… fuck… he looks in a bad way."

"Can we get to him?"

"Yeah I can chew this hole bigger but may take me a bit."

"All good… will give me time to get some supplies for him. Gonna need em."

"Alright see you in a bit."

Then the only sound Jack heard was a gnawing sound. He figured his mind was hallucinating now and he closed his eyes and just saw blackness.

He woke sometime later to find something patting his nose… something tiny. He opened his eyes to see a mouse dressed in all black with black face paint staring at him twitching his whiskers.

Once the mouse saw Jack had his eyes partially open, he spoke to him, "Bunny… bunny... you awake?"

Jack weakly answered, "Yeah… who… who are you?"

"Your fairy godmother." The mouse laughed at his joke, "We're your help. Who'd you think we were? You think anyone else would take this risk to see you... to what… steal your shitty vegetables." The mouse glanced at the old dirty carrot and small turnip on the ground.

"Oh… sorry… not exactly myself." Jack admitted.

The mouse got a sympathetic look on his face, "Damn… they messed you up. I have some stuff to hopefully help with that." He pulled out some pills from his backpack which looked huge in the paws of the tiny mouse. The mouse then looked around and found a small cup and dragged it over to the water bowl and dunked it in and filled it partially and yanked it out upright onto the floor. The mouse then spent a good minute hauling it across the floor to get it within reach of the bunny.

"Here... take these… you'll feel better." The mouse promised.

Jack gathered all his strength and fought through the pain to bend his neck and put the pills in his mouth and chew on them. They tasted horrible, but he didn't really give a shit at this point. He lifted his head and stretched his paws out enough to grasp the cup shakily putting it to his mouth and tilting it enough to drink a few swallows to wash down the bitter grainy powder on his tongue. He collapsed and closed his eyes. He just lay on his side focusing on breathing. He could feel the mouse was next to him gently rubbing his face.

After a couple minutes he began to feel a good bit better and opened his eyes and was able to sit up and lean against the wall. The mouse smiled at him twitching his whiskers and then spoke, "Feeling better I hope. Names Mini… no jokes please." He went over and held the bunnies paw in his two paws giving them a bit of a shake.

"Me and Razer up there are part of your team. Razer is the rat up top there." Mini informed the bunny pointing up high.

Jack looked up at the corner and saw a very long thin piece of dental floss with knots every short distance extending from the ground all the up to a dark gray nose and whiskers up in the top corner of the room.

"Razer is too fat to get down here and through the little hole he was able to make. But he made it just big enough to get me through. You feeling any better yet?" Mini wondered.

Jack lifted up his paws and slowly moved a bit realizing he did feel much better. He could still feel a lot of soreness, but the intense crippling pain was gone at least.

"Sweet… I would bring you the food… but it's too big for me. You'll have to get that on your own I'm afraid." The mouse informed the bunny.

Jack nodded feeling too tired to talk and slowly hopped over to the carrot and turnip and hauled them back to the mattress in the corner and began to nibble on them. The mouse waited patiently for the bunny to eat and when he was through Mini asked him, "Can you report?"

Jack found he finally had some energy to speak and let Mini know he had contacted the boss and knew who he was, where he was located during the day, and what Jack had been doing all day.

Mini listened and nodded and looked pained as Jack described them using him as a toy, "You have done amazing. Far better than we ever could have hoped for. I would be tempted to pull you out now, but we don't have a way to easily do that. See if you can get the boss to leave you on some detail tomorrow where you can just rest. Tell him whatever he wants to hear, and make sure he knows you need a rest."

Jack thought about this, "There may be more locations I don't know about. Also how will you know where the boss is at night?"

Mini answered, "We will have eyes on him when he leaves that office and tail him to wherever he sleeps. Don't worry about the other locations. What you have done so far is more than we could have hoped for."

Jack had given the mouse the information so he could draw a tiny map on a sheet of paper he had brought with details of each slave and location.

Mini pulled two more pills out and gave them to the bunny, "Save these two until the morning. You will need them. Jack… remember what they said. Your safety is more important than taking a risk with the possibility of finding more locations. You may not survive if you attempt that, and we have a lot more to do in the next week. We need you rested and as healed as you can get for the rest of the missions. Get yourself the rest you need. Make sure the slave boss knows you can't move. It should not be too hard for you to fake. You know the contact time tomorrow night?"

Jack nodded, "I send a call at 1 AM."

Mini shook his head affirmative and twitched his whiskers, "Good… if you are in this same spot we will probably stay with you until the guys can release you. If you are not here, we will try and find you. Just try and keep your head down and stay safe until tomorrow night. Got it?"

Jack nodded his head. It was difficult being his normal chipper confident self. The torment had taken a lot out of him, but he kept his resolve as he knew a lot of kids and the success of the mission were depending on him.

He watched the little mouse climb nimbly up the dental floss rope and wave to him, and then they were gone through the hole. An hour later the lights went out, and he tried to rest and get as much sleep as he could. It was not easy with the soreness, thin smelly mattress and stench of mold and decay.

The next day he took the pills and ate the meager breakfast offered him. The bobcat came to get him to take him to the boss. Jack weakly told the bobcat he couldn't move. Grenz seemed to have an idea what happened and picked the bunny up and carried him into the boss' office. He sat the bunny down on top of the desk and backed up a step and waited.

Jack just sat there looking miserable. He felt miserable, but he was acting as miserable as he would have felt if he had not taken the pills Mini had left him. He didn't need to imagine how to act as he had firsthand knowledge.

Finally the urial looked up from a report he was reading and noticed the not so enthusiastic bunny looking at him from the top of the desk. Fredo grinned at the wretched bunny before him, "Well Death Wish, it seems you are not so full of yourself today, eh? But if it is any consolation, they have broken much bigger and tougher mammals than you. You musta at least kept your mouth shut or you woulda been in much worse shape."

Jack looked up at the boss pretending to have difficulty focusing on him, "I… I did what you asked boss. I kept my eyes and ears alert."

Fredo looked at the bunny curiously, "So… did you learn anything? Have anything to report?"

Jack told the boss all about the little operation the four had going on. Exchanging notes and food for stolen items from slave owners by many of the slaves. He told him how Wilson collected everything and rewarded the other three. He didn't tell them about what they did to him, only what he observed.

The boss silently stood watching the bunny for awhile considering all he told him and finally responded, "Well you have surprised me. You did far better than I could have imagined. Not many could have picked up on all of that."

Jack looked at him and gave the boss a slight pained grin, "Thanks boss. I want to do good for you."

Fredo smiled and then laughed, "So eager to please. Well you did do well. And survived your first day. I will reward you. What would you like?"

Jack considered this and knew it could be another test or a trap so he responded, "I want to help you boss."

Fredo grinned, "Even beaten to a pulp… little Death Wish wants to please. Well you are no good to me like you are. I'm gonna put you in a room here and have Doc look at you. And no… don't argue. You are no good to me dead or crippled. We'll see what more things you can do for me tomorrow."

Jack nodded and asked, "What will happen to them?"

The urial smiled with sinister purpose, "Oh they'll get what they deserve."

Jack realized something based on the way the boss had acted during his entire report and made a mistake speaking his thoughts out loud, "You already knew all I told you." Too late… he had said it before he realized what he was doing. He had been too tired and abused to think clearly. Mini was right, I really need rest, but I think I just blew my cover.

Fredo looked at Grenz and the two of them smiled and laughed. Fredo turned back to Jack, "Of course I did. Who do you think most of that take goes to? Nothing goes on here I don't know about Death Wish. But you are quite the clever bunny… almost too clever. Fortunately I can use some clever slaves for things. We'll get you fixed up a bit and see what mischief we can get you into tomorrow."

The boss nodded to Grenz who picked him up and carried him to a room down the hall with a real bed. Grenz put the bunny on the bed and told him get some rest and that Doc would check on him in a bit. Jack didn't have to be told twice as he had already crawled under the covers with his head on a real pillow and was instantly asleep.

---

Reynard was staring at some documents one of his seconds had brought him. He checked the results against several ledgers and checked them over for verification. There was no mistaking the results. He would have to go verify this himself before ever telling his love. Getting this wrong and bringing it to her without being absolutely certain would be unforgivable.

He called for his men to setup this meeting and to kindly insist he meet this pair. He told them to be very polite and diplomatic, but made sure they knew that refusing was not an option. A few hours later he was told the couple were quite willing and ready to meet him in a public room in a house his gang used for this kind of meeting.

As he entered the doorway, an older vixen and an older northwestern wolf who were sitting in two chairs looked up very nervously at the figure of the fierce looking young fox who was examining them quite intensely. They had been holding each other's paws as they sat next to each other, but put both their paws in their own laps as soon as Reynard entered.

Reynard marched over towards the older vixen and put his paw up palm forward as they rose to stand and they quickly sat back down. He stepping in front of the vixen and grabbed her chin and lifted it and stared intently at her face. She nervously gulped and shook a bit. The northwestern wolf who was at least three times the size of the young fox looked frightened out of his mind. He knew quite well who was standing before them, and also knew quite well how dangerous he was.

After about a minute of staring at the vixen, he released her chin and then began pacing around the room shaking his head. Finally he turned and glared at the pair with intense fury. The two shrank back instantly in terror.

"How? How could you?" He shouted at them.

The northwestern wolf answered hesitantly, "Hhh... how what sir?"

Reynard stared intently at the vixen, "How could you give her up?"

The vixen was confused answering, "Who?" She then began to think and then realized to what the fox might be referring. But… it was impossible. They had long since given up hope. Could she dare to dream? She then cautiously asked, "Our daughter? Do you know something about our daughter?"

Reynard's stare bore down on the older vixen and he growled, "How could you ever abandon her? To throw her away like trash… the most precious jewel in the entire world. What possible reason could there be?"

The northwestern wolf then realized what the fox was talking about and blurted out, "Herme? You know where Herme is?"

He stepped over and poked the wolf, "Aza… her name is Aza."

The vixen then began crying, "My baby is alive?" She then threw all caution to the wind and grabbed a hold of the deadly fox and got on her knees hugging him around his waist weeping, "My baby… please tell me you know where my baby is..."

In that moment the intense fury Reynard had been feeling dissipated instantly like a popped balloon. He then gently put his paws around the despondent vixen and hugged her. Perhaps all is not as it seems.

After the vixen calmed down, he motioned for her to sit. She kept looking at Reynard, her eyes pleading, begging him to answer her question.

"I will tell you about your daughter. But you must tell me what happened to her first." Reynard looked at both the older vixen and the northwestern wolf.

The vixen told Reynard her name was Clarette and she and her husband Redding had a little daughter named Hermeline and were living happily until one night her husband was bringing home a gift he had saved extra money for a month to buy specially for his little daughter. He was robbed in the street and offered the robbers all the money he had as well as his watch, but he would not give up the gift for his daughter. The robbers just stabbed him to death and left him to die bleeding in the street pulling the bloody stuffed fox out of his paws. Clarette had petitioned the boss of the district where it happened for justice as you were supposed to be safe in the street from murders since she knew they would need approval to kill her husband. Her husband had always followed the rules and never stepped out of line. He should have been safe from this ever happening. But the boss refused to hear her pleas, and she was roughly thrown out of his headquarters.

A northwestern wolf named Kazimir Occi found her and heard her story. His brother was a top lieutenant for the boss, and he tried to see what he could do to help her. Clarette tried to raise her daughter alone, but times were tough and they were having a hard time just trying to find a roof over their head and some scraps of food to eat. Kazimir followed up with her, but told her the boss was not listening to anyone. The boss had become lax and his district was falling apart as men like the thieves believed they could do anything they wanted in his district without consequences.

Kazimir soon found more and more excuses to follow up with Clarette, and soon fell in love with her, and tried to help her and her daughter as much as he could. After six months of seeing her regularly, he convinced her to marry him and have her and her daughter come live with him. They married and he adopted the little girl Hermeline and she became his legal daughter and took his last name. Everything was fine for awhile until their daughter was around eight and her uncle Isengrim visited his brother.

"The same Isengrim who is boss of the Sahara Square District?" Reynard asked surprised.

Clarette nodded and continued the story. Apparently her uncle seemed to take a liking to their little daughter and not in a good way. He would force himself over to visit and look at her in the wrong way, rubbing her bottom and fondling her tail. He would make comments about her becoming quite lovely in a strange perverted manner. Clarette was concerned and tried to convince Kazimir of his brother's actions, but he refused to believe anything was wrong.

One day Isengrim had come over while Clarette was gone visiting her mother. While Kazimir had been busy cleaning up, the uncle had gone into their daughters room and locked the door. Isengrim had left not speaking to his brother awhile later and Kazimir had found their daughter in her room hiding under her bed crying. When Clarette came home and found out, she freaked out and tried to get little Hermeline to tell her what had happened, but the little girl refused to say a word. But shortly after this incident the child began acting out, waking up in the middle of the night screaming, suddenly becoming violent for no reason, and sometimes bursting into tears and hiding in a corner refusing to come out. Clarette had a pretty good idea what might have happened and begged Kazimir to do something. But Isengrim was a top lieutenant of the boss and his brother. There was really nothing he could do.

So they tried moving to a new home in Savanna Central to get away from her brother-in-law. This worked for a few months until Isengrim found them and decided to pay them a visit again. Hermeline was terrified when she saw her uncle and locked herself in her room. Fortunately the uncle left, and Hermeline's outbursts became stronger after the visit. But the uncle kept finding ways to try and visit when one of them wasn't home, and was able to get her alone in her room and drag her out from under the bed. Kazimir was at work and Clarette had been asleep on the couch and didn't hear Isengrim come in and didn't know he was there until she heard her daughters yips of alarm. She tried to attack and pull the large wolf off her daughter and managed to bite him on the leg. He knocked her into the wall and left her unconscious. When she woke, her daughter was curled up back under the bed and biting anything that came near her, even her mom. Eventually after a day she came out, but she was not the same little girl.

The couple realized the uncle was too powerful and connected, and wherever they moved he would find their daughter. The only solution they could come up with was to try and put her into foster care to hide her from Isengrim. They tried to put her into the best place possible, but caregivers kept moving her because of Hermeline's outbursts and aggressiveness toward anyone touching her. They kept following her over the years making sure she was okay until one day she disappeared and they had no idea what happened to her. They desperately searched everywhere for her, but there was no trace. Several other children had gone missing from the home, and those working there were very closemouthed about what happened. They had searched for years with no luck. They had not heard a word mentioned about what happened to her until this day.

Clarette looked at the fox across from her, tears pouring down her eyes pleading for him to tell them anything he knew about her. Even if she was dead it was better than always wondering what might have happened.

Reynard looked at the two of them and sighed, "Your daughter is very safe and doing well. She is my wife, my one true love and mother to my four kits. As for what happened to her, I will let her tell you that."

The couple looked at him in shock unable to speak.

Finally Clarette managed to ask, "It… it is true? But… but how?"

Reynard answered them, "It is not my story to tell. It is hers. But why does she not have your last name? Is Azadel not her last name?"

Clarette answered through tears pouring down her face, "Azadel is her middle name, the same as my mother. We told them that was her last name to hide her from her uncle."

Kazimir then looked up with a guilty sorrowful look, "Can… can we see her… her and the kits?"

Reynard knew that look. It was the look of someone beating themselves up for not doing more to help protect their child from a vicious predator, a predator of children.

Reynard answered them, "It is up to her. But I will do everything I can to convince her to hear you out."

He then looked at them and laughed, "I just realized that makes Isengrim my uncle as well. That I was certainly not expecting. I wasn't expecting a mother and father in law. I have to apologize for not asking for your daughter's paw in marriage as is custom." He grinned at the wolf.

Apparently the still shocked wolf did not find the humor in the situation, but finally managed to get out, "It… it's okay. Circumstances what they were."

Reynard then looked at them with a grin, "Any other long lost relatives Aza and myself need to know about?"

Clarette answered him, "Yes… my parents and Kazimir's are dead, but I have a brother Bernard who is married to a badger named Freda and they have two children, a boy named Grimbeert and a daughter named Genivive."

Reynard had heard that one name before when he was at court a few times. He wondered, "Is that the same Grimbeert who is a badger at the court of King Nobel?"

Clarette nodded her head.

Reynard found this quite amusing, "So I have a cousin at court who is a badger and an uncle who is a wolf and a district gang leader. Although something tells me that circumstances being what they are, that Isengrim and I won't be improving our relations with this knowledge. We already hate each other, and this certainly won't help improve things any. But I had met Grimbeert several times before and he seemed a nice enough fellow. No bad blood with your brother and his wife I hope?"

Clarette shook her head no.

Reynard grinned, amused by this turn of events, "Well good, I will have to stop by and visit cousin Grimbeert promptly. I have a feeling I may be needing his services very soon."

Clarette looked at him confused, "Why? Why is that… sir… Rey… um Red…?"

Reynard understood, "You were going to say Red Death? I am sure that is what you know me as. Don't worry, it does not bother me. But you may call me Reynard if you wish. But to my family… well with the exception of Uncle Isengrim I suppose… you will find me quite pleasant. I will arrange to have you brought to my home. That way Aza can decide what she wishes done with you, and she doesn't have to leave the kits."

Clarette jumped off her chair and hugged Reynard's legs sobbing, "Oh thank you… thank you sir… we would be forever in your debt. We just want to see her. To see she is alright."

Reynard pet her head and looked at her husband Kazimir and smiled at him trying to reassure him that while most had very good reason to fear him, they did not.

---

"But they abandoned me! They threw me away like a piece of garbage. I had some nervous disorders and they decided I was not worth bothering with just like Marion. They are dead to me!" The spirited true love of Reynard expressed most emphatically snapping her jaws threateningly and shrieking in her husband's face.

Convincing Aza to see her parents was not an easy task, and Reynard was trying his best to calm her and have her hear their story.

She had long since forgotten them, believing them to be dead, or wishing them dead. She partially blamed them for her being put in a position to have been taken as a sex slave at The Dungeon. Thankfully the strong-willed Aza had grown out of most of her anxiety problems, but they would pop up every once in awhile in the form of a bad nightmare or an outburst. However she was quite furious learning her husband had found her parents and had even brought them to her home. She could not understand his possible reasons. He knew how much she hated them for what they had done to her. What could he be thinking?

First his meddling in Marion's love life had caused her to go behind both their backs and get married and pregnant. Then Marion left the house to have her kit all alone because she worried about Renny's interference in her marriage and child rearing. And who would suffer? She would… she and her four kits. And Marion would suffer also. Marion was away from her family all alone, away from his sister-in-law and her nieces and nephews. She should be here with her, safe and well cared for with every possible resource at her disposal. She should be with those that loved her.

Maybe he wants to try and make up for Marion's leaving with this gesture. But bringing the parents she despised, that she thought were long dead was not earning her frustrating husband any bonus points, quite the opposite.

"My love, please calm yourself. You know I would not have brought them here if I had not felt you needed to see them. The reasons for abandoning you are not black and white. Please see them and try to keep an open mind." Reynard had his paws around his furious wife trying to comfort her.

"What reasons are they? Why? What possible reason could they have to justify abandoning me? They dumped me as soon as I was a burden to them because of my episodes. Well abandoning me sure didn't help those any. They only got worse." The angry vixen growled right into her patient husband's muzzle as if ready to attack.

The powerful fox gently hugged his true love who was shaking with rage and calmly told her, "They didn't give you up to the foster care because of the episodes sweetheart. It is related to the reason, but it is not the reason."

She pulled back just enough to look at her calm patient husband, the doting father of her four kits, with tears in her eyes and whispered, "Then why?"

Reynard took his paws and gently rubbed her head responding, "It is their story to tell dear. I only ask you meet them and hear it. Trust me… you trust me don't you?"

She looked into his eyes and saw impossible love, endless patience, concern and compassion. She had to trust he must have good reasons for forcing this. She stared in those eyes… those impossible eyes… the eyes of a brutal killer… those eyes of a loving father and husband… she nodded at him.

He hugged her and took her paw and led her into the den where faces she only recognized in the far reaches of her mind looked at her with expressions of wonder and sorrow. As soon as they saw her they both made a move toward her, but her husband Renny put his paw up and gave them a warning look. It was a look that said stay away, she is not ready for that right now. Even with every muscle in their bodies and their brains screaming to run and embrace their daughter, a warning look from the Red Death would stop you in your tracks no matter what the circumstances. Reynard instead motioned to the four chairs in the room and indicated the two should sit down, and he sat down next to his love across from the older couple.

Reynard then motioned to Clarette to begin the story she had told him. As Aza listened, it was hard to keep her mind open as Renny had asked, but seeing the heartbreak and infinite sadness in the two souls across from her and the pain in their voices telling of her molestation at the paws of her uncle, it was hard not to slowly understand why they did what they did.

After they finished in tears looking at her telling of their desperate search to find out what had happened to her, she sat in stunned silence. She tried to remember anything about what had happened to her, but it was all very fuzzy and so long ago. She finally asked if they had a picture of Isengrim. She wanted to see if his picture would trigger any of the memories from her childhood. After a bit of searching, Kazimir found a family photo in his wallet and pulled it out. It was folded and had been hidden. He gave it to Aza and she held it in her paws staring at the wolf in the picture. Her paws began to tremble and her fur began to bristle. She knew that face, that horrid ugly nasty muzzle. She sometimes saw that face in her nightmares, but it was not from her childhood. She whispered into Renny's ear, "I know him. But not from their story." She saw him give her a questioning look and answered the look, "He was the wolf in the sex pens… the one that..."

She saw Renny's eyes go wide in disbelief. He shook his head and started cursing to himself angrily. Her parents looked at them very confused and very concerned. Red Death was very angry and it was never a good idea to be around him when he had that look in his eye.

"I will kill him." Renny seethed, each word spoken as if deadly poison.

---

And now Reynard was planning an attack on the territory of that very same wolf. The wolf who he now learned was his uncle through marriage as well as the molester of his wife and her tormentor in the sex club. As if he didn't already have enough reasons to hate this wolf who he had wished dead long before any of this information came to light. They had always butted heads at every meeting of the court. Isengrim was notorious for not only condoning, but encouraging all the things Reynard fought against. He promoted child slavery, sex slaves, child prostitution and horrible abuses of so many innocents in his territory. The worst thieves, cutpurses, thugs, murders and rapists all knew they could go to his district and have freedom to abuse the population all they wanted. Isengrim continued the horrible management of his boss before him and the one before that. It seemed that each boss decided to pick the very worst lieutenants and successors. Well this was one operation he did not regret at all. It was the biggest by far and the most complicated. But he had the most time of any of the operations to get this one right as he had several weeks to plan every detail. Reynard did not want to risk the possibility that Isengrim would know he was coming in advance and prepare to ambush him. This was the one operation that needed to go well.

The reunion of Aza and her parents had gone well after she finally heard the entire story. His normally incredibly strong brave wife had turned into a big pile of jelly hugging her long lost parents and all three sobbed together for quite awhile. Finally Aza was able to tell the story of what had happened to her and more sobbing followed. At least the part when he saved her, rescued her and romanced her all seemed to meet with everyone's approval. Aza then described her life at Maupertuis and the birth of her kits. She and Reynard gave the couple a tour of the estate and they finally came to a large playroom where four rambunctious kits all played while being watched very closely by one of their nursemaids, a vixen named Tabatha.

Aza let her mother and father slowly enter the room and introduced the four to their long lost grandparents. The kits wanted to know how that got lost and Aza answered that they had been misplaced just like the kids misplaced toys from time to time, but that they would make sure they didn't get lost again. The kits all brightened very much meeting their new grandparents and instantly dragged them into their play room to play games with them. Even Reynard had a hard time holding back the tears seeing two parents who had thought they had lost their daughter forever only to discover her again and four beautiful grandkits on top of that. He left them to enjoy their time together and silently headed back to work to finish preparing for this huge operation. He told his steward before he left the estate that Aza's parents were welcome at the residence as long as they wished, and to make a permanent guest room available for them. He hoped the addition of her parents would make up at least a little bit for inadvertently driving his sister and her new family away.

It was now time to take his stab at his now one true enemy. But he had to keep the reason for the mission fist and foremost as the top priority. It was not about revenge, but about saving as many of the lost souls stolen from their families, their innocence destroyed, as he could. He couldn't give them their time and innocence back, but hopefully he could give them a chance at a future worth living.

He left with his security detail to visit his kids at their new operation in a warehouse that had been donated by a councilmammal he had saved a year ago. This warehouse was located just south of Big Dune. The visit went without incident, and Red talked to all his kids meeting each one and then addressing them in groups based on their age range. After he was done he told those in charge, his now fully grown kids from his Docks district operation, that he would be staying overnight to discuss issues and expansion plans with them. While these things were important, it was not the real reason for his visit. Late that night after midnight he checked his watch and knew that right now a flotilla of boats were heading for the docks all around the Sahara Square manned mostly by friendly mercenaries aligned with his cause, and his medical staff, former kids and gang members for security on all boats. He was keeping the number of his actual people stepping onto the foreign district soil to a minimum. Their presence would violate his agreement with the court, but technically the mercenaries were not against the policies of The King. Since each group was technically not under his control and authority, and were autonomous, he was not liable for their actions. It just happened that he fully controlled the mammals giving them their orders.

He was informed by his spy master Felix that they had successfully landed and secured the docks, and groups were now moving into positions all around the district using the vehicles that had already been left in place in advance. Coal and his two top lieutenants, a lion named Rath and a scary vicious tigress named Sheba, were on secure two way communication devices with each different team leader. Felix had all these secure communication devices specially developed for use by Reynard's gang and they would be the lifeline to communicate and direct all operations from this central location. His personal bodyguard Alexei, the massive Amur Tiger, spent his time keeping his eyes and full senses watching the dark for any potential dangers ready to pounce at the first sign of trouble.

Reynard was told that the slave master Jack had identified had been tracked to a dwelling near his headquarters. One group took and subdued the slave master and others in the building while another team broke into his office and took any information they could find concerning the slaves and their possible locations. They were currently in the process of convincing this Fredo that it was in his best interests to tell them everything they wanted to know, but apparently he kept insisting, "Do you have any idea who I am? Any idea who my boss is?" Reynard had a pretty good idea who his boss was and unfortunately the limited amount of things he could do to the urial without starting a war. It appeared he was going to have to depend on the information Jack Savage had provided as well as anything they could quickly locate from the search of the slaver's main office.

All teams were now in place outside their breach targets and were waiting on the go order. Reynard asked Felix if they had eyes on Jack and if they had a team ready to extract him. Felix let him know they had eyes on Jack, but there was a problem extracting him. The weasel had just received a call from the little bunny and was currently in contact with him. Reynard asked how long until they could extract him, but Felix was unsure and couldn't get details. The fox was frustrated. Things were already going wrong, but that was to be expected. But the timetable could not be adjusted and he gave the go order to his lieutenants who relayed his message to all team leaders. At that moment ten teams all went into action.

Two groups entered the sex clubs, one south of Cactus Grove and one across the district on the southern end just north of Delta Rd. The plan was to have each team take out one of the outlier locations and then both move to take the two central clubs after clearing the outer locations. By clearing the central locations last they would be in place to help any other teams needing assistance if they finished early.

Two other teams enter two prostitution dens with the goal of clearing them out completely as they could not afford to leave any witnesses. The word was Isengrim used a large number of minors at his clubs, and so it was important to take anyone found at these locations and sort the minors, non-minors, employees and patrons later.

Four smaller teams then began making hits on all known locations of child slaves quietly breaking in and removing any found. One team was dedicated to raiding slave holding pens and went into the first one removing any slaves and employees found.

The final team was dedicated to extracting their agents including Jack Savage, but apparently they were having a problem at the moment with something. Felix had talked to Jack for a bit and then was talking to his other contacts trying to find out what the delay was retrieving the bunny. Fifteen minutes later Jack called them.

Reynard got on the radio with Jack to see how he was doing, "Ja… Grey Wonder… Grandpa here… the parties going on and we miss you. Hang on and we will come get you. We don't want you to miss any of the fun."

From the other end Reynard heard a very tired frustrated bunny respond, "It's okay Grandpa. Make sure all the kids get to the party fir… argggh…" And then the device went dead. Felix tried to get him back but shook his head.

Now what? Reynard directed the group with the slave boss to go ahead and send all the captured subjects back with a couple of agents and send anyone else to immediately go assist the extraction team. Well he had never expected this to all go smoothly.

---

Jack had been looked over by their doctor after his body got a desperately needed rest that lasted through much of the day. The doctor was a middle-aged opossum with an irascible temperament named Dr. Guntard. He spent his time feeling the bunny all over and asking him where it hurt. Jack was honest with the doctor, but just stressed all the pain a lot more than he was feeling which had been lessened with the pills Mini had given him. The doctor informed Grenz that it seemed nothing was broken, but the small bunny had sustained massive bruising over most of his body, and it would take several days of healing for him to be able to walk and hop normally. He gave the bobcat a bunch of pills to give Jack over the next several days every six hours or so with food if possible to help with the pain and swelling.

The bobcat left Jack in the room and came back with some vegetables and water for the bunny to eat and gave him two of the pills to take with his meal. Unfortunately Jack couldn't fake taking the pills and hold them for later as the bobcat was watching him to make sure he chewed and swallowed them with the meal. So he swallowed them down and hoped they were not anything harmful, but it didn't make sense for the doctor to give him anything harmful as Jack was their well paid for investment.

Grenz ordered him to spend the rest of the afternoon resting, and told him he would introduce him to some of the other slaves that evening. Jack liked that idea and hoped Mini, Razer and the others were able to locate him that night. There was really not much he could do except follow his orders and rest, so he crawled back into bed and fell asleep.

Grenz came back that evening and picked him up and took him to a large dining room full of about thirty kids of all different species, sexes and ages. While most of the kids were male, there were a few females mostly of younger ages. The ages seemed to range from kids as young as he was to almost adult. Because there were no chairs high enough to allow Jack to eat at the table, the bobcat just put him down on top of the table at the end where most of the smaller kids were gathered and gave him two more pills and watched him eat and swallow them with the water and cabbage and salad.

The bobcat then told him, "They'll take care of ya now Death Wish. Just listen to ole Betta and Gert and you'll be okay. They know what to do with ya. Just don't be so clever and you'll do good."

Jack watched Grenz walk over and talk to an old female red wolf and saw him give her a bottle of the pills the doctor had given the bobcat earlier. He whispered to her for a minute and they both looked over in his direction. Jack pretended to be looking down at his food so they wouldn't see him staring. The bobcat then exited the front of the building where they had entered.

On the way inside Jack had noticed they had guards stationed outside the front and the building was in an enclosed alcove with all exits guarded. Essentially he was trapped in a fortress, but the good thing was he had found a bunch of other kids which buoyed his spirits. He was accomplishing more objectives of his mission! It was then he noticed the other kids nearby all looking at him.

A small female skunk about his same age spoke to him first, "Hi… I'm Daisy."

Jack looked at her and the other smaller kids glumly and answered, "I'm Death Wish."

A very young male deer laughed, "Good name. You musta made tha mistake of gettin' thar 'tention."

A young moose of around eight grinned at the others and nodded, "Yep. Looking at how beat up ya are you musta met some of the Busta Boys."

Jack looked at them curiously, "Busta Boys?"

A very cute young female leopard grinned at him explaining, "Those are tha kids who they use to knock sense into any kids with umph… you know... energy or ask questions. Names Silvey by the way. Who did that to you?"

Jack looked at her acting very dejected and anguished, "Frankie, Barker, Chucker and Wilson."

A very young groundhog made a disgusted face, "Bah! Those guys are the worst. They broke one little girl's arm and busted this fox kits muzzle and broke two of his teeth. You're lucky to be alive with how 'lil you are." He thought about something and leaned across the table and grasped Jack's paw, "Grover. Please ta meet ya Death Wish."

All the other kids at the table continued grumbling about the group that had mistreated Jack so badly. A little female squirrel named Frizzy told how they would grab her by her tail and throw her. A male antelope named Dobbs described how they sat on him until he broke both his arms and was in a cast for a month. The discussions about all the horrible things they had done went on for quite awhile until Jack had some questions for the group.

He looked around at them all curiously asking, "When I was out with those guys, we went all over the place visiting houses and businesses with kids. What are all you guys doing here instead?"

Daisy had the answer to this, "Oh we are those that haven't been sold yet. They send us on different group jobs. We sometimes have to make things. Sometimes we clean up stuff. Whatever jobs that have for us to do."

Jack stared down at the table sadly, "I miss my mom."

Grover reached over and pet the sad bunny, "Yeah… we all miss our past lives… but we are your family now. Cheer up Death Wish."

Jack looked in each of the eyes of the other kids wondering with faint hope, "Is there any escape?"

Silvey shook her head no, "Not unless you want to suffer at the paws of those that make Frankie and those guys seem sweet and lovin'. The sooner you accept you are here forever the better."

Jack put out a test inquiry to the group, "There is no one to help us… you know… out there?"

The young deer answered, "Nah… not in this district at least. Maybe somewhere else. Oh I'm Bucky by the way."

Jack looked around wondering hopefully, "What about these guys I heard of called Red's kids?"

Grover snorted his drink and the other kids laughed at this, "Those guys got it good. But no… they can't help us trapped here. Hopin' for stuff like that is a waste o time."

The kids spent their time letting Jack know the rules, who to trust and who not to. The younger kids were then put to work assembling dozens of parts to build toys. The smaller kids like Jack with tiny paws were used to attach the smaller parts and they would attach them and pass them down the line to the next kid until it was made and placed in a box. They did this for hours until all the parts were used up and then they were given another project involving small electronics.

Jack had no idea how late it was and wondered how he was going to find out when it was time to make his call. He was so tired from the endless work that he realized that there was a clock on the wall in the corner showing it was almost half past 11 pm.

The old red wolf came and introduced herself as Gert and gave Jack two of the pills the doctor had prescribed to him earlier. She gave him some crackers and some water to help swallow everything. Once she was satisfied he had swallowed the pills, she picked him up and instructed the kids to follow her down a hall in the back which then led to a tunnel and some locked doors at the end which she unlocked. She then escorted all the young kids into some cells. She sent the girls into one room and sent part of the boys into one cell and then put Jack, Grover and Bucky into the other room. She lay Jack down on the smallest thin mattress and closed the door and slid a metal bar locking it in place.

Jack then realized he had a problem as he had no idea when to try to call for support. Even if he did know what time to call, he had no idea where he was. He could only hope the tracker he was carrying would let his friends know where he was located. First things first, he needed to find out what time it was so he whispered, "Any of you guys have a watch or anything?"

The lights in the facility went out except for a faint light they could see coming from under the door.

Grover whispered back, "Death Wish, why do ya need ta know what time it tis? They'll just come get us in the morn' when it's time."

Jack needed an excuse and decided to go with a sympathy one to fit his small broken stature, "It's… it's just comforting is all… everything is controlled. I keep waking in the night from nightmares and it would be nice to know what time it is ya know."

Bucky seemed to understand, "Yeah… I get ya… used to have nightmares for several weeks when I first got here. I wish I could help though. But they search us regularly."

Grover had an idea, "I think Silvey might have a hidden device with a clock."

Jack wondered, "How do I talk to her?"

Grover pointed to the wall on the opposite side, "She sleeps against that wall. With your hearing you might be able to hear her voice."

Bucky and Grover helped to drag the bunny and his bed against the opposite wall and moved his bedding to a different area. Jack tapped on the wall a few times. A few seconds later he heard the same pattern on the other side tap back.

Jack then cupped his paws to his mouth and spoke pressed against the wall, "Silvey, It's Death Wish. Can you tell me the time?"

He listened carefully to the wall and heard a faint voice, "Death Wish… I can barely hear you… what did you need?"

Jack cupped his paws and yelled louder into the wall, "Time!"

He then listened awhile and heard her say, "Eleven fifty."

Jack cupped his paws and yelled into the wall, "Thanks."

Jack didn't know if he could keep Silvey telling him the time for the next seventy minutes, but he had one idea. He thought of a way to at least keep her awake.

Jack cupped his paws and yelled into the wall, "Please tell me about yourself. I can hear you. Bunny ears."

He then listened and heard Silvey tell Jack about her life. How she grew up in the Rainforest District and about her parents and siblings. She told him of her life before coming to the hellhole that was the slave pens and what she used to do for fun. Every once in awhile she would ask him a question just to check if Jack was still listening and he would yell back to her. This continued quite a long while, but he could tell she was tiring and he would ask her for a time check. She told him 12:30am. Just thirty more minutes to freedom. Oh Jack hoped it was just thirty minutes. But he began to worry that they would not find him. He didn't know if he was underground or not. He looked around, but didn't see any mice or rats, but then again it was dark and he was a bunny so his eyesight was quite poor in the dark.

He reached into his pouch under his fur and pulled out his knife and the receiver. The blade and the metal and plastic rectangle felt so reassuring. They told him he was not really a slave but a secret agent. He thought he could handle being a slave again, but it brought back painful memories. He thought he was an invincible unflappable secret agent. But his first mission had taught him one thing. He was vulnerable. He was just what all the kids at The Warehouse teased him about. He was just a baby bunny. As Jack listened to Silvey talk, he thought of how much confidence he had when he first came here. He thought he was just going to charm the boss and convince him to tell Jack all his secrets and make him his second in charge. Instead he was played a fool and given to these Busta Boys to be tortured and used as a play toy. The slave boss didn't even give him the courtesy of giving him a real mission. He was in way over his head, and his ego and drive had landed him into this first mission that he was not prepared to handle. He just prayed they could find him. He didn't know if he could survive one more day in this hellhole. But if they didn't get him out tonight, he may not get out for a long time to come, if ever. It was then he felt cold chills as he realized he was sweating and it was evaporating causing him to shiver.

I don't hear anything! Jack then realized his mind had wandered off and he no longer heard Silvey talking. He frantically put his paws to the wall and yelled, "Silvey! Silvey! You still there?" He didn't hear anything. He began to pound on the wall.

In the dark a voice whispered, "Death Wish… quit making all that noise. Go to sleep."

But he continued to pound and shout at the wall in desperation. Finally he heard a faint voice from the other side say, "Death Wish… it's late… I'm tired."

He yelled back cupping his paws, "Time!"

He heard from the other side, "It's late… go to sleep."

He cupped his paws and gave the wall a bang and yelled louder, "Time!"

After a fifteen seconds he heard, "Twelve fifty-two… now go to sleep!"

He cupped his paws and banged on the wall and yelled, "Can you stay awake for eight more minutes?"

He heard Silvey say, "What?"

He yelled cupping his paws, "Eight more minutes!"

He waited. He didn't hear anything and was about to start banging again when heard her say, "Fine. But you owe me."

He yelled back, "I will pay you back tonight hopefully. Tell me when it is One o'clock."

In the dark the same voice whispered in a grumpy annoyed tone, "Death Wish… shut the hell up."

From the other side of the wall he heard, "Okay. Whatcha gonna do for me?"

He yelled to her, "Free you."

From the wall he heard some laughing and then, "It's a good thing you're cute."

Jack smiled to himself. Maybe there is something good about being cute after all. He would have to remember to use it to his advantage. He needed to learn to use everything he had to make up for all his deficiencies. He was never going to be tall, strong and powerful. He would have to be agile, clever and sneaky. He would have to use his cuteness and innocent appearance to manipulate and be underestimated. But it also seemed helpful with making friends as well. And it seemed right now he could use all the friends he could get.

He was about to bang on the wall when he heard the words he had been waiting for, "One o'clock… now go to sleep or cute or not I'm gonna choke you."

Jack grinned and yelled to her, "Thanks love, paying you back now."

Jack thought he heard a "What?" from the other side of the wall but instead turned on the transmitter and stuffed the folded knife back into his pouch under his fur. Fortunately Felix had trained him to use the device in complete darkness so he found the switch to turn it on and the device came to life in his paws. He then turned it to channel 1456. He knew this was his channel. They had ten thousand channels programmed into the device just in case an enemy unit got a hold of one and tried to find their communication. They also kept it at 0000 in case it was discovered on him, and he was instructed to only change the channel at the designated time. He then sent the coded transmission speaking into the microphone, "Gray Wonder looking for a taxi."

He then repeated the code again. Finally he heard the beautiful silky voice of his instructor Felix, "Papa is here. How do you stand Gray Wonder?"

Jack replied back, "With eight extra passengers. Ready for pickup."

There was a long pause then he heard, "May be a delay on the taxi. Hang tight."

Then there was nothing for a couple minutes. Then something moved next to him and he almost dropped his receiver until he heard the voice of Grover whispering right next to him, "Death Wish… what's going on? Who are you talking to?"

Jack whispered back in a frustrated tone, "Help. Hang on… I have to find out more." He was not expecting a delay. He thought he would call for help and that would be the end of it. But now the tension was growing as he had no idea what was going on and it seemed his boss the weasel didn't either.

After five long painful minutes he finally heard life from the communications device, "Unexpected delay on the taxi. No ETA."

Jack knew that there were many operatives all over the area acting right now, but he had no idea where because he was only told about his mission. This was a precaution in case he was captured. Jack sat there with the communicator in his paw waiting. He wished he could hear anything, but no sound was coming. He knew that it was important to keep any communication to a minimum, but he was sorely tempted to call out again. Grover kept annoying him with questions and he kept trying to keep the little groundhog quiet.

Then he heard a tiny voice. He barely heard it, but once he got Grover to shut up he could make it out.

"Jack… can you hear me? Jack…. Mini here… say yes if you can."

It was Mini! They didn't abandon me! Jack said out loud softly, "I can hear you Mini. What's going on?"

Grover then began whispering, "Who ya talkin' ta now Death Wish?"

Jack grabbed on to the little groundhog and whispering in an irate voice, "Hush Grover… I need to hear. I will tell you in a couple minutes okay."

Jack turned his ears toward the direction he had heard the tiny sound focusing with all his might. Finally he faintly heard, "They barricaded the building. Someone inside your building put steel bars in place. The locks are no good. They can't get through. We think it is kids… slaves. We don't know why they would bar the door. Our people told them we were here for a rescue and they barred the doors. They don't want to use explosives to risk harming the kids. We will have to try and find another way in. Call Felix."

Jack didn't have to be told twice to call his boss Felix, "Gray Wonder looking for joy."

After about thirty seconds the secret agent heard from his ultimate boss instead.

The voice on the communicator calmly said, "Ja… Grey Wonder… Grandpa here… the parties going on and we miss you. Hang on and we will come get you. We don't want you to miss any of the fun."

Jack smiled. Well at least everything else seems to be going on. Hopefully they can get all the slaves he located on the map Mini had drawn from his description.

The bunny answered, "It's okay Grandpa. Make sure all the kids get to the party fir… argggh…"

As he was on the phone with Reynard, there was a sliding sound and the door had opened up and something had grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground. Another powerful paw pulled the two-way radio out of his paw and then smashed it on the ground. He then heard a crunching sound as a large foot stomped on it repeatedly breaking it into a million tiny pieces.

After his eyes finally adjusted to the light, he saw he was being held in the air by Chucker. Frankie was holding Grover in a chokehold and Barker had Bucky in a headlock.

Frankie was glaring at Jack and yelled to Chucker, "Bring them… they said they wanted the bunny, but maybe these other two are in on it as well."

Bucky tried to speak up sleepily, "In on whaaaa… Umph!"

Barker punched the young deer in the stomach.

Frankie then barked out instructions angrily, "Chucker go check on the door and make sure it is holding. I'll take care of Death Wish. He really was well named."

Chucker dropped Jack into the skunks paws who promptly clasped the small bunny in a chokehold. The bear then headed out the door.

They could hear the voices of the other kids coming from the other cells asking what was happening. Frankie answered them with a loud, "Shut up! Another word and you won't be speaking again!"

The skunk then glared at the bunny spitting at him, "What is going on Death Wish? Why do these guys want you so bad? Who were you talking to?"

Jack pretended to indicate he couldn't speak clasping his throat. The skunk then threw the bunny into the corner and pushed himself into the corner as well pressing Jack against the wall. He screamed at the bunny, "Talk!"

Jack had been told what to do in this kind of situation. It was meant for the slavers, but in this moment these kids were acting in that capacity. He was to make sure the slavers knew he was valuable so they wouldn't hurt them. He calmly answered the skunk speaking in a very posh voice, "My name is not Death Wish. It is Randel Fluffston. My father is the richest bunny in Zootopia. I was just calling him so he knew where to get me. If you just give me to them, they will go away."

Jack's pronouncement shocked everyone in the room. After about a half minute Frankie decided to threaten the bunny, "So what will they do if I break your fluffy neck?"

Jack acted completely calm informing the skunk and the others apathetically, "Then you will die. Your friends will all die. Your slave boss will die. Every man he has working for him will die. The district boss will die."

Jack's complete calmness and blasé attitude left the skunk and elk completely speechless. His practiced delivery with complete certainty stunned them thoroughly.

Frankie backed away from the little bunny who was doing his best to stand upright and look regal. He then informed the two Busta Boys, "I am sure my father's men would make it worth your while if you were to rescue me and return me to them. They could pay you well and take you anywhere you wished to go."

Bucky then looked at Jack with wide eyes timidly asking, "Randel… could ya… could ya take me with ya?"

Grover then quickly piped up echoing the sentiment, "Yes… please Randel… could we come too?"

Jack looked at everyone magnanimously pronouncing, "I am sure my father would be pleased to take you all wherever you wished as a reward for my safe return."

Jack felt quite good. The ruse Felix had come up with seemed to be working. The spy master knew that what drove the hearts of slave masters was greed. They would not harm something that would be potentially so valuable. This would give them time to rescue him. And worst case scenario they could negotiate either a trade to the slavers for their captured compatriots or a ransom.

What Felix had not anticipated was the immature minds of these Busta Boys or thugs in training.

Frankie's thoughtful visage then became enraged and he snarled at the bunny, "You seek to trick us. As soon as we open the door, they will take you and give us nothing!"

Jack considered this and answered, "A thousand Zoot bucks is nothing for my father. I can ask them to slide it under the door for you. Would that make you happy?"

Frankie thought about this and countered, "What's to stop them from just taking it back once they have you?"

Jack answered him aloofly, "Open the door and run down the hall with the money if you wish. Once they have me they are not going to bother chasing you. But don't you wish to leave this place? If you stay with the money, the bosses in charge here will just take it from you."

Chucker had come back and was filled in on the situation. He and Barker looked to Frankie to decide what to do.

The skunk considered his options, "Well we had a good thing going here. We were gonna get into Isengrim's operation in a couple years or take over for Wilson."

Jack answered apathetically, "I care not. Take the money and stay. Take the money and go. You could take it and go and then come back to join your boss and tell him they took you against your will. You could hide the money and return to them none the wiser."

The three of them all considered this shaking their heads affirmatively all agreeing this sounded like a good plan. Jack figured it would work and the three were about to go demand their money at the front door when there was a crash from down the hall. Chucker headed down to investigate and appeared a minute later grasped quite tightly in the arms of a puma dressed in black. While Chucker was a bear, he was only a fifteen year old bear and the puma was a powerful middle-aged grizzled veteran who could easily rip the bear apart. Behind the puma was a leopard and a fox also dressed in black. Each carried an assortment of knives, pawcuffs, dartguns and cloths.

All of a sudden the skunk grabbed Jack by the neck holding the bunny in front of him and pointed a knife at his throat.

Frankie then yelled out, "Come any closer and the bunny is dead!"

Everyone froze.

Frankie then glared at the puma, "Release the bear!"

The puma looked back and the fox nodded at him looking at something on his belt. The puma nodded and released the bear.

But the bear grabbed his back and yelled, "Ouch! Something stung me."

Frankie began to move backwards holding Jack by the throat with one arm, his other with a blade to the bunny's neck.

Then Jack heard a tiny voice he recognized. The voice was below him squeaking, "Stab him with your knife and jump. He won't follow."

Jack glanced down and saw what his little friends were up to. He slid the knife out from his pouch, opened the blade and promptly stabbed the skunk's arm that was grasping him around the neck.

The skunk instantly dropped Jack and screamed. As soon as Jack hit the ground, he leaped forward as the skunk grabbed for him. Even through all the pain and bruising with adrenaline pumping through his veins, he made an impossible leap through the air landing in the surprised arms of the leopard. The skunk fell flat on his face as he grabbed for Jack losing his balance because Mini and Razer had taken a bunch of cord and wrapped it around the two feet of the skunk.

At the same moment Jack leaped, Razer bit Barker in the ankle causing the elk to leap into the air screaming. The bear tried to move toward Bucky and Grover but collapsed to his knees looking woozy. The fox had instantly moved forward knocking the elk to the ground and the puma had his foot on the paw of Frankie quickly removing the knife and then pressing his knee to the skunk's back.

Quickly the skunk, elk and bear were all searched, and had restraints placed on their paws and gags placed on their mouths and were then led out. Jack instructed the leopard holding him to open the other cells and release his friends. Mini and Razer had climbed up the surprised leopard's legs and now sat in his arms with Jack. Six other mammals all dressed in black came from behind them and then four of them headed down the hallway performing a search to try and find any other kids or employees.

Jack was placed in a van with his eight friends as well as fifteen other kids that had been rescued from the other detention cells. They were informed there were more kids found and they would be going back in another van. The operation to completely clear the facility would take awhile, but they wanted to get as many moved out as possible.

Apparently Jack was told by Mini and Razer that it had taken awhile, but the team had been able to cut their way in through the roof. The Busta Boys would be placed in one of the groups with the employees for now until they determined what to do with them as they appeared to be a danger to the other kids. Jack was given a communications device and called Felix and Red to let them know he was fine and was heading back to the boats with a group of kids. Apparently his bosses were quite relieved he was safe and relatively unharmed. It was good to hear they cared quite a lot about his welfare. They told him they would meet up with him shortly.

The other kids were all looking at the bunny very confused as various scary mammals dressed in black would keep asking him questions and having talks with him on the strange communications devices. Also for some reason rats and mice wanted to talk to him. Once they were on their way heading to the eastern docks, a wide-eyed cute little leopard girl named Silvey stared at this bunny she thought she knew and had talked to most of the night. The bunny noticed her and hopped over and gave her a quick kiss on her surprised mouth telling her in a crisp accent, "Silvey love, I told you I would pay you back."

Silvey hesitantly asked this extraordinary bunny in a timid voice, "Death Wish, Randel, who… who are you?"

Jack coolly turned to her and gave her a slight nod and then smoothly informed her, "The name is Savage… Jack Savage."