The air was thick with the smell of smoke, strewn across the road were pieces of black metal that were for the most part still red-hot. Black clouds bellowed fast towards the sky from the warped frame of what was a vehicle only moments ago.

In the distance; clouds of dust were being thrown into the air as several matching black pick-up trucks road towards the carnage. There were five in total.

Chief Bogo observed them approaching from behind a large bushel. Turning around and seeing on of his men holding the two restrained captives, kneeling before him. He raised his rifle with single handed ease and fired a sedative round into each of their chests and both were out cold within five seconds. "Restrain them to a nearby tree. We don't need them blowing our cover." Bogo leaned forward and whispered to his man.

The black pick-ups moved in a row, the front three each holding two animals in the driver's and passenger's seats respectively. And Bogo counted eight more sitting at the back of each of the three pick-ups. The rear two pick-ups had only drivers and what the chief could safely assume was large water containers on the back to extinguish the flames and put out the smoke.

The front three pulled off of the road, two on the left side of the road where just a little farther into the forestry lay Bogo and his team. And the third pulled off to the right; thus allowing the rear two with the tankers to move forward and stop a close fifteen meters away from the blaze. The drivers from these two pick-ups hopped out and immediately ran to the back and began loosening hose pipes that were wound up in the back next to their respective tankers.

With hose pipes uncoiled and at hand; the two animals that happened to be tigers ran forward and began to douse the blaze The ten animals from the first pick-up and then the ten from the second pick-up ran forward as well and formed protective circles around the two animals who were working hard at putting out the fire and stopping the bellowing black smoke that stained the bright and sunny day's palette. The last ten split up into five groups of two and were spreading out along the road and began to patrol while cautiously aiming down sights in different directions to see if they could catch any glimpse on the possible culprit. They were being extremely cautious, which caused the hiding chief to let out a mental curse.

His squad was outnumbered and had a quickly shrinking element of surprise, so he had to decide a course of action and fast.

Placing a hand over the sleeve with the red ring to signify rank; Chief Bogo let out another natural sounding call to signify to his men what to do. And as expected it caused the nearest pair of patrolling enemies to snap their heads around in curiosity and stare hard into the forest where Bogo stood. He remained perfectly still. Not even breathing. It was a tiger and jaguar that had their attention summoned, and the jaguar slowly raised his gun and stared down sights. He searched the forest through his scope to see if he could find what had made the noise.

Hidden from within the shrubbery and shadows, Bogo and his team remained dead still, all aware of the called upon attention. The chief lowered his eyes and saw a red dot run across his chest as the foe surveyed the forest. What could have only been a matter of second felt like hours to the tough Police Chief, and after having the dot run unknowingly across his body a couple more times; the jaguar lowered his gun, shrugged at his companion and they continued their patrol.

With prying eyes away, Bogo's team moved into action. They had been trained to understand several calls and how the slightest difference in tone, volume and pitch could mean totally different things. The call Bogo had just made was to tell his unit to spread out quietly in a straight line and each pick two targets, and they all knew without a word which two targets to go for. Those in the unit with the better aim would go for the more obscured enemies and those with a less steadied aim would shoot for the easier targets. They all knew from best to worst how each of their shooting abilities ranged, so between that and countless hours of training together, they were practically mentally connected and knew exactly who would shoot which target. The Chief being more of a brawler by nature would go for the two whose attention he had caught, as they were relatively close and he owed them for the added stress. The reason everyone was to pick two targets was so that if by the odd chance someone had to miss, then someone else would have a chance to make the shot. They were outnumbered but only slightly, so this tactic would work in this scenario.

One by one; each of Bogo's unit members let out a low and sustained whistle as their targets were visible enough for an unobstructed shot. And within moments the entire unit, including Bogo, was heard as a choir of low whistles. This caused many heads to turn on the enemy's side at the low and unsettling sound of unseen animals whistling. And many of those concerned animals began to raise their weapons, but not before Bogo shouted "Now!" And exactly thirty bodies tensed for a moment and almost simultaneously fell to the floor. Six of the animals that were bears moaned and moved around the ground and Bogo quickly gave the signal for them to be double loaded with sedatives.

Lowering his gun and emerging from the shadows, Chief Bogo stated, "Nicely done squad." Before walking carefully over the unconscious soldiers and picking up one of the hose pipes that still had water flowing copiously out from it. "Move and restrain these mercenaries quickly. We have a fire to put out before we head back to 'camp'." The word camp was stressed sarcastically as Bogo knew that the only chance they stood at regaining Hopps and Wilde; was to return as the enemies they had just taken out.

While many of his unit worked at restraining and concealing the bodies in the forestry, the rest helped Bogo contain the blaze that was very quickly dying down. Whoever had blown up this vehicle had just given ZPD's finest a huge advantage.

Nick had watched the five pick-ups drive off as he worked his way through the forest around to the back side of the warehouse, which was now a much easier task without the likes of mercenaries patrolling the area. He held his rifle in a hip firing position as he was too tired to have it ready to aim constantly. A sudden encounter would mean a spray of bullets in their general direction, which Nick cringed at the idea of, but it would have to do. He needed to conserve as much concentration and energy for the real challenge. Getting back in the warehouse was no longer a problem. It would be getting out that was the real issue. "Although…" Nick started while looking up and seeing the two patrolling Snipers on the roof. "They could be a problem with the 'Getting in' part."

Judy's hands flinched and the rattle from the chain clanking against the bars for the chair startled her out of her thoughts and she looked up to see X standing in the doorway, just, staring at her. She paid him no heed and returned to her thoughts. The way she saw things now; Nick had lied to her and had now left her for dead, or worse. In fact she was sure that death would be a mercy on stark comparison to the life she was soon to lead. This sick and twisted creature before he has a farm from what she can gather, where he brainwashes and treats other animals like savages while he sits upon them as some Master? No animal is bred this twisted and evil. She looked up at him again and noticed several discolorations in the color and texture of his fur on his arms, and the glow from the outer world from the room seemed to illuminate scars upon his arms. They were not battle scars, no, Judy knew fighting scars, heck, even accidental scars as she thought about her let. This X had been tortured, and a lot. Someone had twisted him into this sick being and Judy didn't know what scared her more. The fact that animals can be molded into what X is or that there are animals out there that do the molding.

It wouldn't matter though. Soon she would be a slave to this twisted and demented system, and she was very quickly coming to terms with that fact. Her ear throbbed and she looked forward to see the heavy metal ring still dangling from her ear. And she started to mentally chant, 'two-seven-six-nine-nine'.

Huge clouds of dust were flicked up from the wheels of the pick-ups as they raced down the road. Chief Bogo leading from the front driver's seat glanced down at his dashboard to see over thirty of those illuminated, blue wrist bands sliding with the movement of the vehicle. There was something very off about those bands and Bogo made sure that all of the downed enemies were relieved of their bands. Lost in his troubled thoughts the chief quickly snatched one from the dashboard and secreted it into one of his pockets. He wasn't sure why but he had a gut feeling as though it played a pivotal role in whatever was transpiring.

Making the last corner and weaving the pick-ups into a large clearing, the Chief and his unit could see a large, white warehouse rapidly growing large upon approaching it. Bogo caught a glimmer on the roof and shouted out to his other men in his pick-up to watch for snipers. But he knew it didn't really need to be spoken. One of his elites; a lioness who was the best sharpshooter to come by the ZPD in a long time leaned over the back of the pick-up so her arms and rifle rested on the roof of the vehicle. Steadying her breathing and compensating for the movement of the pick-up along the dirt road; she fired her first shot and knew before it had even traveled that it wouldn't meet its target. Someone on the warehouse roof had just had a tranquilizing round wiz passed their head. Re-evaluating her tactic and timing her shot again, she moved against the vehicles movement as it went over a bump and as she predicted it jumped her aim right where it needed to be.

And before one of the two tigers who sat on the roof could even aim down their own sights, he lay unconscious with a sedative in his chest. The second tiger began to freak out and shot out a wild shot at the row of what was supposed to be friendly pick-ups, and the lioness had to pull herself hard to the right as a lethal round struck the vehicles roof to the left. "Wrap it up now Sue!" Bogo shouted above the ambient noise to the lioness. They were now close enough to the warehouse that distinct features could be made out. From within it's open doors.

Sharp Sue; as she was commonly referred to on the force, did not need to be told twice, and upon repeating her tactic again she downed the other tiger while it was stick cocking the rifle with another round.

The sound of his sniper's rifle being fired above him caused Laurence to look up again from the table and some of the lined up soldiers to turn around in cautious curiosity. The jaguar's eyes went wide with shock as he suddenly stood up and shouted, "Guns now! Protect the machine!" And his command was almost too late as the five pick-ups stopped at the entrance to the warehouse building and from the cover of all the other military vehicles; six Special Forces Officers from the backs of three of the pickups opened fire on the lined up militia. Chief Bogo and two others tossed out smoke grenades strategically in the mess of vehicles that were lining the entrance to the building, giving them the cover they needed to get out of the vehicles and properly situated for an assault.

Nick was about to take a chance at running for the building from his cover in the forest when he saw the snipers collapse and with fine eyesight he could faintly make out the uniforms that were situated in the approaching pickups. Standing still in disbelief as the five pick-ups went straight for the front of the warehouse, Nick was forced to chuckle to himself. "You clever little bunny." And feeling truly alive for the first time in nearly twenty-four hours; Nick raised his gun and made a break for the back of the warehouse, if he could get in from there, then his team just got an even bigger advantage.

Laurence crouched behind the flipped planning table and glared at the machine; through the faint haze of traveled smoke from the invaders cover system and utter chaos around him, he swore as the machine finally ticked on ninety-nine percent. This was taking too long and he didn't have time for these disruptions. With the light coming in from the warehouse the jaguar could faintly make out shapes moving behind the wall of smoke, with his men falling all around him he pulled out his own pistol, emerged from cover and began blindly firing.

Bogo and his team were using a clever little tactic, where they on purposely made as much noise as possible and constantly moved behind the cover of smoke to make it seem as though there were a lot more of them than there actually was. But Bogo's team was also taking its fair share of damage, 6 of his own animals had been hit, four of them were still able to fire and defend themselves, but two were critical and needed medical attention badly. A lot of firing had calmed down on both ends and those still standing on Laurence's side were grabbing effective cover and thinking carefully before shooting. It was as the chief started to hear several clicks on his side of the battle and his squad began to individually shout 'Lethal!' as they swapped out empty sedative clips with lethal rounds.

"Sue! It's time to start a rush!" Bogo shouted to his marks-woman. Looking to his side and receiving a nod from her that she acknowledged the plan; Chief Bogo pulled out two last smoke grenades and threw them a little further than the last two. Counting to ten to let the smoke disperse, Bogo then stood up from behind one of the pick-ups and began to run forward into the smoke he laid ahead. He too had loaded a magazine of lethal rounds and knew that anyone who pointed a gun at him now would have to perish. Falling in line right behind him was Sue, who had un-holstered two pistols and slung her rifle around her back. Time seemed to slow as the two of them ran forward through the smoke. The chief covering her from the front and herself looking out from the sides. Using her incredible and steady aim she caught a few stray enemies on either side that were preparing to shoot, they were downed almost immediately. The chief himself had to hip-fire at a few that came charging right at him. Clearing through the smoke he saw that a vast majority of the enemies lay on the floor either unconscious or bleeding from the corner of his eyes. This was a final push forward.

The rest of the unit that was able to come forward also soon ran through the smoke, ready to take down all who stood in their way. They knew they were winning the fight.

That is when the chief saw the biggest bear he had ever encountered let out a horrifying growl and run right at him. Seeing the bear reeling back for a punch, Bogo stopped dead in his tracks so that Sue ran into him on purpose and he bumped her off to the left while simultaneously dodging the attempted blow. Sue was quickly back on her feet and ran for nearby cover like the rest of her comrades to start a very close quarters shoot-out between either side. The large bear turned around fast, just in time to catch Chief Bogo shout, "Let's dance big guy!" And use all of his strength as a largely built buffalo to tackle the bear to the ground. The shooters on either side were too focused on taking out the opposing shooters to be bothered with the two mighty animals brawling on the ground, that and they were too worried about shooting one of their own.

While Bogo rolled around in the most intensive physical battle of his life, he caught a glimpse of the blue band on the massive bear's wrist. And that the blue glow had begun to pulsate.

In a small room at the back of the warehouse, Judy thrashed about in the chair she was confined to. Having heard the commotion and knowing almost immediately what was transpiring, the little bunny had new found hope and a will to fight. X stood leaning against a wall, near where the door was pulled from its hinges, watching Judy. A few stray bullets had made its way into the room, so he calmly moved her chair further into the room, so that she would not take a stray bullet, Otherwise he was contempt with watching her struggle.

"What do they call you, prey?" X asked her in his calm, but unsettling two toned voice. "Officer… Judy… Hopps…" She grunted out between tugs at her restraints. "Why… does it matter to you… 'Monster' ?" The last word she added bitterly, if she was going to be called what he saw her as then she was going to do the same for him. "Well, Officer Judy Hopps."He began as he lifted himself off of the wall and walked forwards towards her, ignoring the ambient sound of battle that was happening a mere few meters outside of the room. "When I do properly break you… You are going to make a beautiful addition to my collection. And within a matter of minutes, the machine will have finished it's loading and I will have won." Looping a finger in the ring that hung from her ear he caused her to stop struggling and gasp in pain. "Why don't you make it easier for the both of us and just submit now?"

"Fat chance you freak!" Nick called out from behind X, who released the ring in Judy's ear and turned to see the fox standing in the door way with a rifle aimed right at him. Taking a step forward Nick continued, "That there happens to be the strongest animal with the greatest will power that I know, and nothing you do will ever break her spirits or beliefs. You're just a weak shell in comparison to her… You walking, talking husk!"

"Nick! You came back!" Judy shouted as one of her ears perked up and the other tried to, but could not fully do so with the weight of the ring holding it down. Tears of joy streamed down her face.

Literally being able to feel Judy suddenly get filled with hope infuriated X as he shouted, "How dare you!" and made a dash at Nick.

Reacting fast, Nick pulled the trigger twice and X was forced to stagger back, and looked down at his right shoulder that now had streams of blood flowing out of it. With wide eyes he stared at Nick as he spoke, "Not going to lie… That really hurt!" And he made another Dash at the fox, which caused him to shoot again, but this time X was faster and had the smaller predator knocked off of his feet and flat on the ground. Nick was over powered easily by the freakishly strong creature and had to let X pull his rifle away so he could grab one of his pistols. Trying to aim it at X he was stopped as X quickly grabbed his wrist, not caring, Nick began to pull the trigger and let off four rounds right next to X's head.

X's primal instincts that kick into action whenever he fights caused his senses to increase, so the gun shots so close to his head felts like knives being driven into his brain and without howling in pain, he simply shouted one and recoiled back in discomfort, curled up and scratched at his ears as though to make it stop.

Wasting no time, Nick ran forward to Judy and shot through the chain of her cuffs, freeing her from the chair. Immediately she hopped up and threw her arms around him, "Oh Nick…" She started sweetly while pulling away from the embrace, just to slap the un-expecting fox across the face. "Don't ever hide anything from me or lie to me ever again." And with that she sternly turned away from him and walked over to the rifle he dropped and picked it up.

X who still lay writhing about in shock, he ripped off a large portion of his shirt where he had been shot, and Judy saw a wide collection of scars, welts, bruises and scorch marks. "Be sure… to ask him… about this…prey!" X growled out and Judy stared in absolute horror, before turning to look at Nick.

Nick started, "Don't listen to-

"Did you do this?" Judy interrupted him while pointing at X, her voice shaking in fear and uncertainty.

"We can talk about-

"Did you do this!?" She screamed as she marched up towards Nick and looked him dead in the eyes.

His silence was all she needed, and when he broke their eye contact, it was all the confirmation she needed. She raised her head, flicked her weighed down ear back so it draped behind her head, and walked out of the room with her gun raised at the ready. Nick followed her in a somber silence.

Laurence had had enough. He stood up from his cover and walked forward, in the range of fire and began shooting at the two large figures who fought upon the ground. He emptied a whole clip of eleven rounds into the two forms before they both stopped moving and he reloaded his gun. Suddenly all the fighting stopped.

Silence filled the air.

Only three bears still stood and immediately they ran forward to attack Laurence, but turning quickly and firing three shots in succession, all three bears fell to the ground. Moving over to the large animals; Laurence grunted as he used his foot to move the massive bear off of the buffalo.

Greg the mighty bear was dead; having caught nine of the eleven rounds.

Chief Bogo glared up at the jaguar with blood shot eyes while holding his left side where he had caught two rounds himself. His breathing was deep and fast as he tried to keep himself in check while experiencing absolute agony.

"If you want this pitiful animal to stay alive just a while longer, then stop this foolish attack right now!" shouted Laurence as he aimed down at Bogo's head.

Hit wristband was now pulsating extremely fast and he knew that the process was about to finish and he let out a loud and deep laugh. "In any case, you've lost now. I win!"

"No!" Shouted Judy as she ran towards the machine, all heads turned from Laurence to Judy. Nick ran after her in an attempt to stop her. And seeing what was about to happen, Laurence ran at her as well. "Don't you dare Hopps!"

Being the fastest of the three, Laurence caught up to Nick quickly and pushed him to the ground before heading at full speed towards Judy, whose small figure had effortlessly hopped on top of the machine.

Crouching down and grabbing the small black box that had caused her so much grief, she pulled it up; fast and hard.

The machine let out a screech and the whole warehouse seemed to shake, and still without the box attached the machine itself rolled onto one hundred percent.

Laurence began to yell out a curse, but was cut out by a blinding white light.

And suddenly Judy felt pulses of pure energy flowing through her, as she stood atop the machine holding the black data box. She looked over to Nick and her eyes met his own and she saw the fear and concern in them as he rose to come to her aid. She felt a tingling sensation, and that was very quickly replaced with a burning one, and she suddenly hurt all over her body.

And then it stopped, the machine went quite.

And then it exploded.

A SPECIAL THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO FAVORITED OR FOLLOWED THIS STORY.

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FOR LEAVING YOUR AWESOME REVIEWS AND FEEDBACK, IT REALLY MEANS THE WORLD TO ME TO READ ABOUT HOW YOU FEEL CONCERNING THE STORY.

I could give a million excuses for why it has taken so long to write and publish this chapter, but at the end of the day they are just excuses. I hope I have not lost any of you awesome readers with such an inexcusable absence. I am truly sorry

Irrespective of that issue, this chapter marks the halfway turning point of the story and I hope you are all ready for some extreme 'Team-building' with the characters.

Take care and have a wonderful day!

Un4gottenSOUL