Familiar Fire: Frost and Thaw
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AN: A plot bunny idea I had while doing some research for 'Familiar Fire: The Embers of the Past'. Less based off of my version of the universe, more off of stuff learnt in 'The Appointed Time'. As always, you need to read Familiar Fire, and there is a moderate spoiler for the first three or so chapters of 'The Apointed Time'. Thanks once again to the fantastic Kittah/ Variable Mammals for creating this awesome universe.
A new chap of 'Embers of the Past' is coming very shortly, don't you worry.
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Seriously. Read Familiar Fire first. This leaps right out of one of the chapters, and would spoil all the main plot points. Read this first, and you spoil everything. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
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"I can't- wait," Brittany kept her eyes squinted shut, and suddenly white shapes came into view. Though blurry at first, the fidelity on them quickly increased as she focused, and she "saw" Commander Bogo seated in front of her. "Whoa. I can see you!"
"Excellent," Bogo nodded, and a terse giggle leaped from her muzzle as she could see him doing that, though the movement was a little fuzzy and he came into full view only when he stayed still. "Now, we should test the range of your ability." He pointed in the direction of Zootopia. "Can you see anything that way?"
Brittany tried, and she saw an innumerable mass of indistinct white blobs. While focusing on them, she found she could "look past" them, zoom in, and even focus on them to see them clearly. "Wow, it's like, I can see any mammal I want..."
"Mm," Bogo nodded. "Do you think you could find your family that way? Is your focus good enough?"
"My family..." Brittany breathed out, "well, I only have a rough idea of where they live now, but I could try." As she did, she looked up and down buildings, peeking over various mammal forms. "This is kinda fun, actually, I can- oh!" Brittany's eyes flew open, and she squinted as her eyes got used to regular light again.
"What's the matter?" Bogo half-got out of his seat.
"Eheh..." a guilty smile splayed over Brittany's face and she poked her forefingers together. "Saw something I shouldn't have."
"Oh," Bogo rolled his eyes, but barely smiled.
Brittany shut her eyes again, eager to give it another shot. Focusing and concentrating, she thought she saw some familiar fox figures in the rough area of Savanna Central. She recalled her parents telling her they had moved there. "I think I got them... is that them? Wait a second..." She focused very hard, and the figures came into view. "Yeah that's dad..."
Bogo nodded, gulping as he did so.
Brittany, oblivious, carried on looking, scanning around the building. "I don't see Mum," she replied, looking around the building. "Though it looks like someone and their kit are getting off at our floor."
Bogo nodded, before tapping his intercom. "Clawhauser, I just remembered… could you bring those things to my office? And the other thing too?"
Brittany let herself focus on his request for a bit, before turning back to the building. She paused, as the figures came over towards the door. "Odd," she noted, before shrugging. They might be family friends…
Yet the adult vixen let herself in without knocking. As if to rub in the fact, there was a knock on the door in Bogo's office, the buffalo quickly requesting that whoever it was came in.
Looking back, she saw that it was her mother entering the apartment. Maybe looking after a…
Brittany gasped as she saw the little kit, by the looks of it a girl, race forwards and leap into her father's arms. He planted a kiss or two on her, before the whole scene vanished as she opened her eyes.
She choked out of sob, gasping. Confused. No, it couldn't… yet…. But they….
She looked around out of panic, and saw Clawhauser and Skye looking at her, confused and concerned.
"Bree?" Skye asked. "What's the matter…"
She didn't know how to respond and instead looked at Bogo. He was standing up, his face looking like stone and etched with pain, showing more emotions than she had ever seen in him.
It was all the confirmation she needed.
Her whole body trembled before she buckled over, pulling her knees up to her chest as her whole body began to shake. Her mouth opened wide, her eyes closed, and an agonising grief filled scream began to escape her mouth. "AaaaaAAAHHHH!"
Tears began to flow, and as she felt the warm embrace of Clawhauser next to him she gripped on tight.
"Brittany!" he gasped. "What's the matter?"
She couldn't answer, her body racked by sob after sob after sob instead. However distant she felt from her parents, the news had felt like an icy claw reaching around her heart and twisting it, before tearing it down and out, leaving her empty and broken inside. She felt betrayed and broken and hated and confused, and latched on tighter to someone she knew would give her comfort. He had his arms out, and was cradling her back, rubbing her gently. Skye, unable to do that, floated by, trying to speak to her. "Bree… Bree! What's the matter? Woah… you're going icy Bree!"
She managed to open her eyes, and spotted flecks of ice and cold on her paws, growing along his shirt too.
"Very Icy…" Clawhauser noted, "I didn't know you could do that, but… well, you're covered in it now."
Looking to the side, she observed that she was covered in hoarfrost, almost looking like a pink fox rather than a red one. Whatever the implications, though, she didn't care. She was still too consumed by the pain of what she'd seen. A sister… A sister she never knew she had, and who her parents had abandoned her to raise.
…
Time passed, as she sobbed and whimpered into her teacher and mentor.
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"Do you… do you think you can tell us what's wrong now?" Skye asked. She had her arm out, trying to place it on Brittany's shoulder, even though it didn't do anything.
"I…. I…. I saw my parents…" she began, through her sobs.
"I told her she had a heat vision power," Bogo explained. "I advised she use it to find her parents."
"Well I found them, and my sister!" she cried, her whole face wincing up in pain. She held it, silent for a few seconds, all taught and with her tongue coiled up inside her wide-open mouth, before she collapsed into another round of sobbing.
"I didn't know you had a sister," Skye observed.
"WELL NEITHER DID I!" Brittany screamed, both Clawhauser and Bogo flinching back from a flash of heat. "Neither… neither did I…" she sobbed again, before breaking down.
Skye's paws were up at her face, while Clawhauser looked on aghast. Not much was spoken, until she calmed down enough to stand up and sit by herself, her eyes still often in her paws.
…
"That's why they hardly ever visited," she said weakly, before her face tightened up in rage. "THAT'S WHY I WAS SO LONELY!"
"Brittany," Clawhauser interrupted, fanning himself after another quick flash of heat. "I… I know that your parents rarely visited, and you always brought it up, but we all put in the effort to… to make you feel welcome here."
"We love you," Skye added. "The ZED is your family."
Even Bogo spoke up. "You have nothing but friends and family here, and you're not alone. I want… I want you to know that."
There was a sniff, and a low simmering heat as Brittany looked up. "So has Sam," she muttered hatefully. "But his mother visits him every week, doesn't she? I just thought my parents were busy, and had responsibilities… I TRUSTED THEM!"
"Your one's sort of did," Clawhauser noted, before flinching back as Brittany, snapping, hit him, even if it didn't cause any pain.
"YEAH!" she seethed. "Raising… Raising my replacement! He… He promised they'd never replace me…. Right… right before they stopped visiting frequently… -he… -I mean… -SHE WAS PREGNANT THEN!"
The last roar had everyone flinching back and Bogo, still keeping an eye on her, cautiously opened a window to let some cool air in, before wiping the sweat off his brow.
"He lied to my face!" she sobbed…
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"Brittany," Bogo said.
She'd been sobbing for a while but had stopped, and looked up to face him. Her fur was a mess, and her eyes a raw red. "Yeah…"
"I… I found out a year ago, and tried to make him tell you," he explained. "I almost told you myself, though I didn't want it to come to this…"
"Oh," she noted glumly, looking away from him.
"Remember when I introduced you to Skye?"
"You said it was something important you wanted to tell me…"
"That was originally going to be about this," he explained. "I'd just been having another argument with your father, warning him that things might turn very ugly if you wanted to go home, and… -well, I'm afraid I chickened out."
She huffed a bit, before looking away. "I don't care," she muttered. "At least you… you decided to tell me…"
…
"Your father was never angry about you," Bogo noted. Brittany looked up, her gaze meeting his, before looking away disinterested. "He kept on saying that he was worried how you'd take it, and that things might get out of hand and an accident could occur… or it would cause you too much pain if you were going to stay here anyway…"
She scoffed, crossing her arms and looking down at the floor, not that she cared about what was being said.
"I said that we'd have other enforcers, and if it helped him then they could be on hand to make sure nothing bad happened, but he kept on saying that he couldn't risk it… and it seemed like the wrong time, and that we needed to be reasonable…"
"You said that you'd been reasonable enough, and didn't have much patience left," Brittany replied. Most of the emotion had left her voice, and she just stared into the middle distance, only snapping out of it when she noticed ice forming around her again.
"What's with this ice thing?" she noted, getting up and trying to shoo it away with anger. She looked up at Bogo, expecting an answer.
"Your power works with both hot and cold," he noted. "It seems you just found out about the cold side."
She paused, wondering why he hadn't told her about it before, before shrugging it off.
"You feeling okay Bree?" Skye asked.
"Not really," she replied.
Bogo nodded. "As can be expected. I… I hoped you'd finish with your party before this, but I think it's still waiting. It's been a while, do you wish to go back to it?"
She looked up at Skye and Clawhauser. "With these two, maybe…"
She stood up and began to walk out, Ben opening the door in front of her. She paused though, as she heard the commander speak up.
"Brittany," he said. "I'm sorry. I truly am."
"Thanks," she replied hoarsely, her voice hollow and weak.
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"HEY! There she is!" Callie called, the whole group of mammals suddenly standing up and cheering. They paused, though, as she came into view. Flanked by Clawhauser and Skye, she wasn't the outgoing and happy vixen they knew, instead looking meek and broken and vulnerable.
"Hey Brittany. I…"
It was Judy, and the red fox turned to look at her.
"Oh gosh…" the bunny said, reaching a paw out. "Didn't… didn't you get a place. I'm…"
"Brittany has got a place as an enforcer open," Clawhauser announced, as much to the rest of the group as to Judy. "But she's just learnt of some news that's… well… very sensitive, and it's put her into a bit of a downer. But we can try and cheer her up, can't we?"
They did, and it did work, to an extent. The cake was cut and more presents came and over time Brittany found herself smiling again, forgetting what had happened.
When everything died down, she found herself returning to her bedroom, only to pause as she saw Callie outside. The little otter had a concerned look on her face.
"Hey," Brittany began, before being cut off.
"I know that look," she said, fussing with her foot on the floor, before looking up. "I… I'm sorry, I truly am. It may not be the same kind of tragedy that hit my family, bit… -But, if you want to talk about anything… I'm here."
Brittany was silent as the little otter hugged her, before remembering what Bogo had said. Family issues. Nowhere to go back too.
She guessed that she was like that now.
If she wasn't an enforcer, how long would they let her stay?
…
She'd have to ask, but for now she hugged the otter and let the odd tear drip from her eyes. "Thanks. I'm… I'm sorry too."
They let go, and Brittany entered her room and threw herself onto her bed.
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She wasn't sure how long she'd stared at the ceiling.
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Just thinking about nothing.
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Maybe she'd practice these new ice powers?
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Maybe later though, she didn't feel like doing anything right now.
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Chirp-chirp.
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Her ears swivelled, and she look at her phone and picked it up, her eyes furrowing as she saw the message. 'Happy Birthday. Hope you're enjoying the big 18! We love you.'
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With a rainbow emoji at the end.
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She gritted her teeth and opened up the phone, rage beginning to seethe through her. She noticed the phone itself begin to get warm, so she took a deep calming breath before continuing.
'No you don't.'
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'Brittany, are you okay?'
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She felt herself growl at the gall of the question, before hammering out her response.
'Of course I'm okay! I've got what everyone wants! Parents who love me enough to celebrate my eighteenth with a text, and a rainbow emoji!'
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She was already hammering out the next response when their reply came through. 'We're sorry we couldn't visit today, but we have a day off soon. It was going to be a surprise.'
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It didn't matter to her, instead she just sent her message as it was. 'If you visit soon, I may even have to use my second paw to count how many times you visited since my 17th! How lucky is that? How few mammals get that? Four tiny little visits a year, all nice and little before you have to run off!'
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'Brittany? Are you okay?"
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She gritted her teeth, before jamming in the reply. 'Of course I'm not okay. Who would be with garbage parents like you?"
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'Whatever your problem is, we can come and visit soon. Work it out. We're sorry we're so busy, but we can work it out.'
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'Don't bother! I know you hate me! I'm your disgusting freak daughter! You probably hate having to come here, so don't bother. If you were going to abandon me, you could have done it properly!'
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'Brittany. Both of us are really worried. We don't hate you, we love you.'
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'Actions speak louder than words.'
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'If you're really upset, we can try and visit more often. We love you, and don't want to see you so hurt'
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'Stop lying, you dogs.'
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'Brittany. Don't use that language, please. We're not lying to you, we're really worried!'
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'You don't get to tell me what I can't do, you lost that right when you dumped me here. They could have locked me up in a cell, alone, for life and you wouldn't care. They could beat me and torture me, to steal my powers or just for fun, and that would be fine! You don't care about me, you didn't want to raise me, so you don't get to lecture me!'
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Brittany angrily threw her phone onto her bad after that, the whole thing seeming to get a bit too warm. Moving into her bathroom, she filled her sink with cold water and splashed her face, trying to cool herself down both figuratively and literally.
Chirp-Chirp-Chirp…. Chirp-Chirp-Chirp….
Her ears raised as she heard her phone ringing, something that had rarely happened, and she walked briskly over to it and answered.
Chirp-Chirp-Chir-
"Brittany."
It was her mother. She sounded concerned, though she scoffed at the idea, instead just letting her carry on.
"What's the matter honey? I know… I know it's not the best birthday, and I know we don't see each other very often, but you seemed okay with it. We… we can visit soon. Maybe, maybe you could visit us, too…"
Brittany gritted her teeth as she heard something going on on the other end of the phone. "I see Dad's not happy with that idea," she noted, her face scowling.
"I… He's fine with it!"
"Stop lying," Brittany warned.
"We're… we're not lying," Delilah replied. "I don't know where you got this from dear, but…"
"Oh, you know!" she interrupted.
…
"Brittany…" her father began, though she didn't let him finish.
"You started it six years ago, didn't you?" she muttered. "Telling me that you would never replace me, right as you were busy doing that. Right as mother was pregnant with… with a sister I've never seen! A sister who you, so obviously, love a hundred times more than me! A sister, who you think is so nice and normal, not like that failed first attempt! That freaky little thing that… that… that you pawned off, and a few times every year you endure, before hurrying back to your precious replacement!"
….
"Did Bogo tell you?"
The words seemed so ordinary, but at the same time like a surrender. Like he knew that he was about to die or something.
Truth be told, Brittany thought she could strangle him if he was in the room.
…
"He gave me the means to find out…"
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She heard a mutter, and felt fire begin to tingle through her as she realised it was a 'damn him'.
"Bogo is more a father to me that you ever were!" she growled.
"Brittany, I'm so sorry, I…"
"SORRY!? She screamed, pausing as she saw licks of fire escape out of her but failed to hold. "You're sorry!? Sorry doesn't cut it! You… you abandoned me! You lied to me! You didn't tell me about things that… -that it was my right to know! You visited me less and less, however lonely I said I was, until you'd trained me not to love you anymore!" Her breath hitched as she choked out a sob, the grip on her phone tightening. "WHY!?"
…
"Because… because I was a scared, weak, coward… Who… Who was always scared of you after that fire, and…"
"Maybe if you'd have been honest, you abandoning me wouldn't have been so bad," she growled. "I just hope you're happy with your new life! I'm happy with mine. Goodbye, forever. Hand me over to mother, so I can cut the cord with her too!"
…
"We… whatever it takes, we can try and make it up. What do you need to trust us again?"
"Hand me over to mother, or I'll hang up," she ordered. "Unlike you, I believe in closure…"
"Brittany," he pleaded. "We'll do whatever it takes. Whatever…"
"Does my replacement even know I exists?" Brittany asked.
There was a long silence, a guilty silence, before her mother spoke, sobbing as she did so. "I'm sorry, but please..."
"Farewell," Brittany interrupted. "Goodbye. And so sorry for inconveniencing you!"
She pressed her finger onto the off button and threw the now silent phone onto her desk.
She noticed the room had gotten colder as she's said that. Now, though, it was warming up again as the rage came through, rolling and rolling with each deep breath. She charged forwards, grabbing a chair, and threw it against the wall. She threw it again, and again, furious and wanting something to break. Fire simmered around her, and she lashed it out at the innocent object, before beating it up again.
By the time she'd finished, her bedroom had been trashed, and she reduced to a balling, sobbing mess.
She slipped into her bed, curled up, and fell asleep crying.
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She stayed in her room for the next day.
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And the day after that.
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There were knocks at the door, from her friends and from mammals like Bogo, Judy and Clawhauser. She asked them to leave her alone.
Even Skye, who could rush in to be with her, kept her distance. She said that, when she was ready, she could talk to her.
Brittany said thank you, before continuing her isolation.
The light pastel colours and the warmth seemed so much darker, and she had a dreamless yet non-energising sleep on the third night.
She'd often just find herself fussing with her paws, or using her heat vision to explore the city.
To watch them…
She watched her mother break down many times, and her father come to comfort her. She felt her rage abate as she saw him cry too…
Maybe he didn't hate her, she thought.
Maybe he was just an idiot.
She paused on the third day as an idea came into her mind. Opening her phone again, she scanned through the numerous texts, all telling her how sorry they were and that they wanted to make things right.
She started her own.
'If you're serious about not hating me, you need to prove it. You were happy with me waiting for months, only to get almost nothing, so you will wait too. Wait until I'm ready. No more of these texts and calls pushing me or trying to guilt me, understand? Someone who won't wait though is my sister. You'll tell her today. If she wants to call, text me to tell me that and let her. If she wants to visit, you drop her in the reception and a friend can take her to me. If I do decide I want to see you, I want to see at least one of you once a week. Separate if needs be, but once a week. You'll come at the start of visiting hours, and stay until they close, even if I make you stand around doing nothing for all that time. If you break my terms, then any forgiving is off. You're lucky I'm doing this.'
She scanned back over to the apartment, noticing her sister giving her mother a homemade card and a big hug, before pressing send.
She watched as she brought her phone up and her face lit up. She jumped out of her seat, racing over to her father and showing it to him. He looked back and hugged her tight. They just held each other, crying into each other, while her sister looked on confused.
Brittany noted that they hadn't told her yet.
She did see them wave her into their bedroom though and talk to her. They brought a picture book out from a cupboard, and began slowly going through it. Brittany could guess what was in it and smiled slightly. She had a faint smile as she saw her parents struggling to go on, and pointing out things in there.
Her sister was getting excited, then looked on at her father as his sobbing intensified. She then stood up and walked over to comfort him. Her mother, closing the book, hugged him.
They stayed like that for a while.
Then, he brought out a phone, and began texting.
Chirp-Chirp.
Opening her eyes, Brittany looked on at her phone.
'We understand. She wants to speak'
Brittany pressed the call button, and held it up to her ear. "Hello?"
"Uh-hello…?" came the voice of a nervous child from the other end. "Are you… are you Brittany?"
She nodded. "Yes."
"That's a pretty name. My name's Kinsey."
"That's pretty too," she said, smiling. "Can you… can you tell me about yourself…"
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An hour of talking later and the two sisters, who so recently didn't know the other existed, had run out of things to say.
She asked if she wanted to talk with Mum or Dad.
Brittany said yes.
"B-Brittany?"
Her mother, and she felt herself smile. Spying on her parents, seeing their genuine reaction, she somehow felt far less hostile about them now. "Let's talk."
…
It was late in the evening that they finished, the dark mood that had smothered Brittany lifting. She felt ambivalent about trusting them, but she was going to give them a second chance. On the date that they had planned to come up as a surprise, tomorrow in fact, they'd all be coming up, and would be together as a family for the first time.
To Brittany, that felt good.
She also felt hungry, having barely eaten anything in the last few days. The kitchen staff had been overjoyed to see her again, and she quickly began eating the huge chicken sandwich provided. Skye joined, and Clawhauser too. They were happy that she was happy, though Skye also looked longingly at her food.
She asked where Bogo and Judy were, and they just gestured up to the television. She was battling Nick, again…
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An idea crossed Brittany's mind and, using her heat vision, she honed in on him, following him as he raced off. She almost lost him a few times, but eventually found him again by chance, bunking down in an abandoned construction site.
She opened her eyes and smiled.
This was going to be good.
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In the ops room, they watched with bated breath as Judy landed, followed by Fangmeyer. The sleeping fox stirred slightly, before he was smashed into the wall by one of the bunny enforcers kicks. Before he could act, a pair of alloy boots were on him, and he began writhing and screaming as he realised he was caught.
In the coms room, everyone was cheering and shouting, celebrating until it was all cut off. Fangmeyer, grabbing a needle, jammed it into him and pulled out a large sample of his blood.
Everyone was confused, and Brittany looked to Bogo and saw him smiling proudly.
The initial confusion, though, was cut out as Fangmeyer grabbed Nick, preparing to take him away. He screamed at them, asking why they weren't just going to execute him then and there. Brittany felt a sudden sense of unease, but it left as Judy proudly stated that the ZED wouldn't do such things. Nick scoffed, saying that the ZED were corrupt to the core. He talked about how they'd spent the last ten years chasing after him after one of their own set him up. How he'd stopped a mass murderer seconds after she tried to kill him, and they'd told the world he was a dangerous killer. How he'd finished off a mammal that could destroy them easily, and just got screwed over…. He said, his voice cracking slightly, that someone in their ranks would find a way to make him suffer more, then pick on another innocent who tried to help them.
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"Bogo," Brittany asked. She'd been taken to his office afterwards, so he could commend her for her clever thinking. Instead, she felt herself replaying back Nick's words in her mind. "What's going to happen to Wilde?"
"Huh?" he asked, looking down. He shrugged, before going over to his desk. "He'll stand trial," he said. "If he's as innocent as he says he is, he'll be cleared of his old charges… though resisting arrest for ten years is its own issue."
"Right," Brittany said, pausing slightly. "He said that one of our own set him up. What was that about?"
She noticed a flicker of sadness and regret flash across his face, before he turned out and looked across the window. "Before you joined… we had two rising star enforcers. They weren't much older than you are now. One was Skye, the other… the other was Jack Savage." He scoffed slightly, before speaking grimly. "The crushing pall…"
Brittany paused. "Kain said Skye smelt like the crushing pall."
Bogo looked at her sadly, before waving her down onto a seat. He sat down too, and spoke glumly. "He was her partner. He went rogue, and destroyed the west wing… killed a number of mammals, and…"
The room turned icy, as Brittany spoke up, suddenly feeling a sense of dread within her. "He… he was the one who hurt Skye," she sniffed.
He nodded back.
Wiping the odd tear away, the red fox spoke up. "What does he have to do with Nick?"
"Before," Bogo began, pinching his muzzle. "-Before he became a fugitive, Wilde came to us and warned us about him. Said he seemed to be going down a very dark path…" His eyes turned regretful, and he looked into her, pleadingly. "I ignored him, told Jack… and a week later Jack said that Wilde had robbed the Tundra Town bank. Less than a month later, he betrayed us."
…
"I…" Brittany began, before pausing, not sure what to say. "Do you think he framed Wilde?"
"The thought has occurred to me. It's… a strong possibility," Bogo noted, "and there's likely nowhere near enough evidence to charge Wilde for that crime. The others though…"
"The murders."
"He claimed they were self-defence," Bogo noted, "and knowing the records of the two mammals he killed, I'm inclined to believe it."
"So wait?" Brittany exclaimed. "Why… Why did we even hunt him down for all those years?"
"It was our job to bring him to trial," Bogo explained, before pausing. "And there was something else we needed from him."
Thinking back, Brittany's eyes widened. "His blood?"
He nodded, holding a hoof up as she began to ask a question. "Even before Skye had woken, just after the first murder, we had a theory. You're aware he has super healing, correct?"
Brittany nodded.
"We think we can transplant the powers of one red fox to another. From Nick… to Skye."
The young red fox twitched, her eyes going wide. A paw came up to hold in her gasp, a sudden surge of hope and joy flowing through her.
"It's only a theory," Bogo pointed up, though he let a little smile grow on him as he did so. "But we're confident."
"Skye's going to get better," Brittany muttered into her paw, still happy.
"Indeed, and not a moment too soon," Bogo said, turning away again. "It took us years to get Wilde, and we fear that Jack might be returning soon, and we need to be prepared."
Brittany gulped, a shiver of terror running through her, turning her icy again.
"We'll be briefing the ZED on this tomorrow," Bogo explained. "Don't worry."
Breathing in and out, Brittany nodded. "I'll try," she said, before her gaze hardened. "And… and I think I'll join the enforcer training too."
Bogo smiled proudly. "I'm happy you decided to. Want to start tomorrow? We can work on both your fire and ice."
"I…" she began, before pausing. "My family is coming up, so maybe only have a little bit… so I can show off."
The large cape buffalo lit up more than Brittany had ever seen him light up, and gave a large smile. "And I thought the best news I heard today was Wilde getting caught."
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A few weeks later, and Brittany's parents had been up three times, spending more time with her than in the last few years combined. She'd met her sister, who was immediately amazed with everything she saw. The first time, they'd mainly cleared the air, and let Brittany show off her powers in full. All had been amazed by her new ice powers, and while she'd sadly noticed the look of fear in her parent's eyes, she made sure to show them that she was in control. That she wouldn't cause any accidents again. There had been a group therapy session too, pushed on by Clawhauser, where they'd come clean about everything. Her father's fears, and her mothers torn loyalty, and their regret. She'd talked at length about her feelings of abandonment, and even her jealousy at mammals like Sam.
It had cleared the air.
The second visit was fun.
Period.
There was a faint unease, but seeing their genuine reactions with her heat vision, and the effort they put in, pretty much killed it. There was the returning familiarity too, and even as they left she'd been eagerly looking forwards to seeing them again. That visit had been the full tour of the ZED, as she'd planned shortly after her fifteenth.
Things likely never would be normal.
But they'd be close enough to not see the difference.
She'd now been thinking of going out with them, for regular meals and daytrips, and things were being arranged.
Other things were going on too. The drills for if Jack returned. Skye's cure being worked on.
Then, one day, the alarms went off.
He'd returned.
Brittany managed to squeeze into the last evacuation lift, quickly dropping into the cavernous bunker beneath. There, she'd made her way to Skye's bed, and held onto her. The cure was almost ready, but it was too late.
The older vixen asked about what was going on and, using her heat vision, Brittany saw Judy and the others defeated, lying on the ground, at the feet of the evil bunny. They writhed and squirmed in pain, and then she noticed a new group arriving.
Led by a racoon, they were armed guards, escorting a small mammal within them. Before she could see what he was though, her vision went all wrong, like a faulty television. She tried to get closer but it got worse, so she backed out until it became clearer again.
She saw the bunny, who had been floating, fall to the ground, right as everyone else lunged or kicked at him. They all threw themselves off balance, or paused, repeating it again with horrified looks on their faces.
Bogo though charged in and grabbed the bunny by the ears, holding him up before giving him a good swing into a wall.
.
Back at the surface, she looked on at the melancholic looks of the other enforcers. Victory, but at what cost…
"You brought in a mammal," Brittany said to Bogo afterwards, making him pause. "I remember my heat vision going blurry, I…"
"It was a last resort," he replied. "It'll wear off in a year or so for those who were close, though we'll bring him in sooner for this chap."
He held up Jack Savage, who was twitching about and trying to shrink into himself, overcome with grief and terror.
Brittany felt herself growl at him.
"Nice having you back, Jack…" he said.
.
.
Brittany soon found herself caught up in training after that. A few enforcers hadn't been affected, one being out on paid migration at the time, but the lack was severe, even after support came from the United Mammalian States. She was to be raised up to be an enforcer as soon as possible, though she made it clear that it wouldn't interrupt her time with her family. Bogo said that he was proud of her for sticking up to him like that.
It wasn't just her relationship with her family that was healing though. She watched as Skye's treatment took full affect, her body rejuvenating in less than a minute. Both vixens had cried with joy as she took her first steps in over a decade, before running into each other and hugging tightly. They then laughed as Skye asked whether she could take a break for a shower.
After that, the two had visited the bunny's cell. He'd been put in a straightjacket, given the crazed state his loss of powers had put him in. He shivered and shook, and giggled and cackled, but that all stopped when he saw Skye.
"I heard you asked how I was?" she said coldly.
He gulped, and was silent as she bent a finger and lowered it between his legs. Brittany looked as his eyes tracked down, and he gulped in fear.
"Never better, never stronger," she said defiantly, before flicking. With Wilde's super speed, he was spun across the room, howling in pain.
"We could make this a regular thing," she told him, before leaving. Outside, she collapsed onto the floor and cradled her head in her paws, frustrated. She began apologising to Brittany, for being so cold and gloomy, but Brittany told her that she never had to hold back around her.
On the way out of their cells, they passed by a bunch of guards, one of them the racoon that Brittany had spotted. He held a large gun, and was escorting a hippo that was pushing a gurney. A gurney with Wilde strapped to it.
He was looking down sadly, and Brittany felt a tinge of guilt.
She looked up, and saw a large one on Skye.
"A lot… a lot of his suffering was due to Bogo wanting to help me," she noted, glumly. "The least I can do is be there for him at his trial."
.
They caught it when they could. Five charges. Bank robbery, murder, murder, resisting arrest and misuse of powers.
Brittany, in the audience, noticed a sombre red fox vixen, and guessed it was his mother. She watched her face soften as they announced that the first charge was being dropped, the true culprit, having framed Wilde, being recently caught.
The first murder charge, and Brittany and Judy looked on as a whole pack of wolves, and multiple other animals, all arrived. They all explained what had happened, how they'd been attacked, Nick first, in cold blood.
Were it not for his healing powers he'd have died.
And they'd of all been dead too, slaughtered by the murderer that Nick had killed.
The whole thing was thrown out.
Brittany noticed the red fox vixen go pale, looking down and away most of the time.
Then came Hollideer, the second murder, and a number of girls came up, testifying what had happened. The police chief, too. How they'd all been under age at that time. How he'd used his powers against them. How much damage he could have done, and how glad they were for Wilde doing what he did.
By this point the red fox vixen was howling in sorrow so loudly that she had to be escorted out, two bailiffs trying to comfort her, and stop her hitting herself over and over.
A precedent was brought up. A case from years ago, with another hypnotist.
A case similar to this one, and a ruling that acting like this and calling it self-defence was justified.
Another charge thrown out, and the court dismissed for the day.
Outside the court, Brittany had caught a glimpse of the distraught vixen before noticing another distraught mammal.
Judy.
Back at the ZED, Brittany had comforted her as she screamed out.
"TEN YEARS… Ten.. -Ten years of chasing him, and he was innocent!"
"You didn't know that," Brittany said, pulling her in for a hug.
"A chunk of my life gone!" she groaned, gripping her brow tight. "I failed so badly! Skye suffered! I didn't deliver the final victory! I made his life hell! And… and I'm left with nothing!"
She kicked the air angrily, pausing as nothing happened before kicking a few times again, furiously.
"You'll get your powers back eventually," Brittany reassured her, feeling for her friend. All of the temporarily disempowered mammals had been struggling, but Judy particularly badly.
"I know…" she said, groaning. "But I just feel so… so useless!"
Brittany paused, thinking. "When was the last time you went home."
"What do you mean?" Judy asked, turning to face her.
"To see your family."
Judy paused, thinking. "I muzzletime them often, but… I don't think I've seen them since I arrived here. Too busy hunting Wilde."
Brittany patted her on her back. "Take a holiday, and don't take them for granted. I think they miss you, a lot."
Judy smiled, placing her paw on her friend and nodding. "Thanks…" she said, sniffing. "Sounds like a good idea."
.
The rest of the trial was less straightforward. Nick's lawyer was arguing that, due to the perceived persecution, Nick was rightfully paranoid of the ZED and couldn't ensure that he'd get a fair trial. There was a bit of amazement as he invoked an insanity plea, though he quickly clarified to the jury that insanity, in this case, referred to not being in a fit state of mind.
There were lots of arguments, but then everything stopped.
Wilde accepted a plea deal, taking a two-year suspended sentence by pleading guilty to the resisting arrest charge.
There were cheers from the court, and Brittany saw him walk free.
She also noticed his mother.
She was crying, huddled into a corner, and not moving. She walked over to her, and heard a familiar tale. One of a parent who'd wronged their child for a decade, and however much they wanted to put it right it just seemed impossible. One who didn't know how to do it, and knew it just got worse and worse every second that passed.
Brittany left her, and used her heat vision to find Skye. Nick, having just been released with a new ankle tracker, was being thanked by her. She'd told him how much he meant for her, and, given that she'd been paid the very generous ZED wages while still bedridden, she had money to share. He tried to refuse, but she insisted, giving him enough to set himself up again with a nice house in a cheaper part of the city, and some savings. She joked that commuting time wouldn't be an issue for him. He said thank you, and that she could visit anytime. Maybe even proofread his autobiography, given that he'd have lots of spare time on his paws.
Brittany introduced herself too… as the mammal who got him caught.
He was silent for a bit, before thanking her too.
If it weren't for her, he'd have kept on running, and things would just get harder to repair… not that they could be repaired now.
She could feel a kinship with him. Of children, who's parents had, for whatever reason, unfairly pushed them away. Now there was a chance to heal though, and like she had done, he wasn't sure it was possible.
She called out, and Mrs Wilde came around a corner, barely holding it in. She walked, then ran forwards, and embraced her son as she gushed out apology after apology. He was nervous at first, but soon began to tremble and return the emotion, looking to her one last time and thanking her.
.
.
It still wasn't that long after the chaos with her family. It still wasn't that longer after Jack had been defeated. It still hadn't been that long after Nick had been captured, then found innocent. The seasons hadn't changed, but her powers had developed. She'd been nervous about practicing them on Skye, but her friend had told her that her new healing could cope. It had taken a few tries, but she had found a rather out of the box way of using her powers to help bring down even the toughest rogue. While she could hold her own on the frontline it came with the risk of injuries to the other party. Instead, she'd usually be nearby in support, both using her heat vision to track her enemies and chilling them down as her partner battled them. It would take her a minute to give them hypothermia, though a mistake on their part would come way before that. The other volunteers she'd practiced on made her well aware of the fact that her enemies would recover fairly quickly, even without her adding heat back in. She felt confident. Her parents were there to watch her go out on her first mission. Her sister was cheering her on.
This was it.
"Ready to make the world a better place, partner," she said, mounting her new Mark-4, one foot resting on one of the rests and the other on the ground, keeping her steady.
"You bet Bree!"
Turning, Brittany fist bumped Skye, before they took off together. Friends. Enforcers. Sisters. Empowered foxes, proud to be fighting for good.