Chapter 11: Bulletstorm

Parking her new car, Alexis rolled down the window and saw a three-story house. The sun was just over the horizon, giving it a strangely romantic appearance as the golden rays flickered in the windows.

It was a neat little neighborhood that was obviously meant for people of the upper middle class, with some small shops and establishments situated here and there on both sides of the street and nothing as big and mainstream as a Z-mart or something.

Looking around, the ocelot spotted several parked cars, but fortunately enough, no people. One thing that caught her eye though was a lone truck that was standing not too far away from her.

I was your average, run of the mill white van with a logo plastered on the side of it, depicting a widely grinning cartoon-raccoon and a text of capital letters that spelled "Mr. Coonie's Cleaning Company".

Sneering at it, she whipped out her phone and dialed Wooly's number. Reclining back in her seat, she impatiently tapped the steering wheel, getting a response after just a few beeps.

"What is it?" She heard the sheep's annoyed voice.

"I am on location now овечка (sheep)," Alexis said while keeping an eye fixed at the van. "I see a vehicle that could very well be a surveillance truck, so I'm going to deal with them first. The only question I have before I begin is what I should do with the cops inside."

"Tch, frag them for all I care. The less witnesses the better. The important thing is that you get that weasel and don't get caught," Wooly replied.

"Don't worry овечка, I'm going to rock that house," the ocelot said before hanging up.

She then raised the collar of her coat, slipped on a set of dark shades and a black pair of leather gloves before stepping outside. Calmly strolling across the street to the lone van, she swiftly moved to the back of it as soon as she got close. Looking around to make sure nobody had spotted her, then knocked a few times on the door in the back. No response came, prompting the ocelot to knock again.

"Who is it?" A gruff voice asked inside, making Alexis lick her lips and reach down her coat in anticipation, before using her free paw to knock one more time.

Just then, the door opened and she stood face to face with a snow-white wolf. Alexis swiftly unsheathed the claws of her free paw and slashed the surprised wolf across his face.

The wolf instinctively grabbed his face, blood beginning to gush from four vertical cuts. He was then pushed back by an elbow tackle from Alexis, who then pulled out a grenade from her pocket, pulled out its safety pin with her teeth and then tossed the projectile into the van's interior.

Then, just as quickly, she leaped out of the van and slammed the open door shut, catching a fleeting glint of two other officers inside the van and their shocked expressions

With her back against the door, she heard a muffled explosion, quickly followed by screams and intense coughing fits that soon died out and left nothing but an uninterrupted silence after them.

Opening the door, she cautiously backed off while covering her nose, cause from the interior came a cloud of yellow gas that soon dissipated. As it did she could see that it had fulfilled its purpose: the three officers were unconscious.

Knockout-gas wasn't exactly her style; if she had been in a better condition she probably would've just blasted the three to kingdom come, but right now, going straight in with guns blazing wasn't an option. She needed to use her wit rather than her firepower to walk out of this alive.

Approaching the surveillance equipment, she pushed a sleeping deer aside and grabbed his earphones. Putting them on, she heard that someone was making a phone call at this very moment.

"Hello, this is Pizza Hub, can I take your order?" A perky female voice said as soon as the dialing signal ended.

"Yeah, I'd like to order an extra large family pizza with all the toppings… Except for anchovies," a male voice said on the other end.

"Sure sir, we'll have it over in 10 minutes or it's free," the girl from the pizza place replied in an ever-cheerful tone. "Now what's the address?"

Removing the headphones, Alexis rubbed her chin and smiled. It seemed like she had found her way inside. She then shut the surveillance equipment off, stepped outside and made her way back to her car. Popping the trunk open, she grabbed her two homemade sawn-off guns with the special ammo, filled her pockets with some extra shells and then grabbed a brand new SMG with a silencer, two extra clips and finally two flash bang grenades. Making sure everything was perfectly hidden and comfortably available to her on her person, she then closed the trunk and made her way over to a nearby alley.

About five minutes later, Alexis could hear the sound of a scooter approaching. Looking out from her hiding spot, she could see said scooter coming.

On it was a young looking zebra with a large Band-Aid on the side of his face. Alexis raised her eyebrows, for she recognized this particular pizza delivery boy. There was no doubt; he was one the jocks who had tried to beat her up the other day.

Internally cursing at this extraordinary coincidence, she started to quietly sneak up to where the teenager had just parked.

The zebra was about to take a pizza box off the rack of his scooter when he suddenly heard a voice coming from behind him.

"Hello again," Alexis said and the zebra turned around to look at her. The ocelot couldn't help but to smile a little as the kid's face got twisted into a horror-stricken grimace. "Small world huh?"

"Holy shit…!" The boy hissed and raised his hoofs in apprehension. "Look, lady, I - I didn't really want to do it, peer pressure you know, and it wasn't like…"

"Shut the fuck up," Alexis said, her smile gone as she pulled up one her shotguns and aimed it at the zebra's face. "If you want to live long enough to lose your virginity, you do exactly as I say."

"P-P-Please… I… I… I'll d-d-do anything…" The boy said in a low voice, his whole body starting to tremble.

"What a well-mannered young man," Alexis said with sarcasm and nodded at the boy's scooter. "You can start by bringing me one of those boxes if you'd be so kind~"

"There better not be any anchovies on it," Bouvier muttered. She, her partner Manning and three other officers were sitting in a room on the top floor. They had been there since yesterday, with little to no action coming out of it so far.

"Would stop going on about that?" Her partner asked while he sat on the opposite side of a dinner table, flipping through the pages of today's newspaper. "I expressly told them no anchovies, they should get that. Really, I don't see why you're getting your panties in a twist over some salty fish…"

"That's easy for you to say," the goat said and stuck her tongue out in a childish manner while rubbing her belly. "I don't like fish in general, and ever since I got this bun in my oven, the smell alone is enough to make me gag!"

Manning rolled his eyes at his partner's whining.

"I said no anchovies, so we shouldn't get any. If we do, I'll gladly kick the delivery boy's ass."

"You'll have to get in line then," Bouvier replied and crossed her arms. "… Do you think she'll show?"

The Doberman's eyes briefly moved up from the newspaper, before looking down again and flipping over to a new page.

"Based on what the chief said, she will probably try."

"… Should we be concerned? I mean we're on the top-floor. If she does show up, you don't think she'd make it all the way up here do you?"

"Tch, nobody can be that good Chel," the Doberman replied, his brow knitted. "Getting a little nervous are we?"

"Nah, just making idle conversation," Bouvier said and looked away.

Then the Doberman folded the paper and gave her a serious look.

"You shouldn't be here, especially in your condition."

"Hey, don't give me that," Bouvier said and gritted her teeth at the dog. "If I'm gonna have this baby, I'm gonna need to use any time that I still have before having to leave for maternity leave to the fullest."

Manning kept looking at her, his fierce look softening somewhat.

"… Have you heard anything more from him?"

Bouvier gave off a contemptuous snort.

"Not since I told him he was going to be a father. I'm not really expecting him to come back; love wasn't exactly the glue that kept us together in the first place."

"Still, what kind of a scumbag just ups and leaves the woman who's carrying his child?" Manning said, and like with most angry canines, the hint of a growl could be heard in his speech pattern. "If I ever get my hands on that prick I'll-"

"Save it, Dave," Bouvier said in a sharp tone, which made the Doberman go silent. "My parents have already said everything that can be said of this, including 'We told you so', so nothing more of that please!"

"Can't help it," Manning mumbled, his ears dropping a bit. "It's dog-thing, I get a little protective. I see somebody mistreatin' ya, I wanna go for the guy's throat in an instant. It's instinct, that's what it is."

The goat's face softened, and she gave Manning an appreciative smile.

"Eh, no problem, you big softie there," she teased, making the Doberman huff in annoyance.

"Hopefully things'll go as planned," Manning mumbled. "I'd hate to be the guy who helped get a framed cop put away."

"You and me both partner," Bouvier replied and leaned back in her chair.

As this was going on, Alexis was giving the frightened zebra her final instructions before swiping the ID-card off his chest.

"I'm gonna keep this," she said and read the name of the card, "… J. Garcia? Well, Mr. J. Garcia, if you try to warn the police, you might just get a smoking hole in your neck, so no funny business, okay?" The ocelot then showed the card inside her coat and gestured to the delivery boy to move. "Now get going. You're on the clock, remember?"

Nodding, Garcia hurried off to the house. Ringing the doorbell repeatedly, he looked back and saw Alexis standing near the porch, her hand still on the weapon. Then the zebra's ears twitched as he heard the door opening. Turning his head, he saw two ZPD officers, a yak, and a pronghorn, looking at him.

"Uh… Y-Your pizza officers…" he said and gave off a nervous smile. "Um, that'll be fifteen bucks...!"

"Huh, you got here right on time too," the yak said and looked down at his wristwatch. "Louie, take the pizza inside, I'm gonna pay the kid." The yak said to his partner, who nodded and grabbed the box. "So, fifteen eh? Does that this include the tip?"

The kid nodded nervously and the yak produced his wallet.

The pronghorn then opened the box in the background, and his eyes widened. Atop various layers of pepperoni and mozzarella, the pizza had a most unusual topping in the form of a flash bang grenade. A fishing line was also taped to the inside of the box's lid and ended with a hook that now had a loose pin dangling from it.

Letting out an audible gasp, the yak turned his head wondering what was going on, just as the delivery boy covered his eyes and the flash bang went off, creating a blinding white light.

Alexis advanced with her weapon out, rushed up the steps, pushed the kid aside, went into the hall and aimed the barrel of her gun between the blinded yak's eyes.

"Rest in peace," she purred and was about to pull the trigger when something small and hard suddenly struck her forearm.

A surge of electricity went through her arm and Alexis screamed. Jerking violently and striking the yak with the barrel of the gun before dropping it, the ocelot tripped over a nearby coffee table and then falling behind a couch. Looking down at her arm, which was now pulsating with a burning pain, she could see a small, paw-shaped marker was attached to the sleeve of her coat, which had now partially melted. Cursing in Russian, she ripped the pawprinter-ammo off and looked over the sofa to see an opossum standing up a nearby staircase, which was currently talking into a walkie-talkie.

"She's in the building! Call for the backup now!"

Taking the chance, Alexis pulled out her SMG and took a shot at the officer, blowing up his kneecap in a cloud of red and making him fall down the steps with several hard thuds before hitting the wall at the end of the stairs.

Getting up, she then walked over to the opossum. He was still conscious but breathed hard, and his right arm was twisted into a funny-looking position. Groaning, he looked up and saw the ocelot aiming her gun at his head.

"Which room does the weasel reside in?" She asked.

"Go to hell, you crazy bitch…!" the opossum hissed while gritting his teeth in a mix of anger and pain.

"You still have a chance at making it out of here alive," Alexis noted with a hint of impatience, pressing the barrel against the opossum's forehead. "If I was you I'd take it and spill the fucking beans."

Coughing and spitting up some blood, the opossum's eyes narrowed and then shut tightly.

"Fourth room in the corridor on the third floor," he replied.

"How many cops between me and him?"

"S-S-Six m-more…!"

"Thank you..." Alexis said and reloaded her SMG. "Normally I'd break my promise and kill you anyway, but seeing you in that position more than makes up for the shock therapy."

Looking back, she spotted the scared-looking zebra known as Garcia standing in the doorway.

"You should leave; this is about to get very loud and messy." She purred and watched Garcia run away from the door and disappear.

Hearing a couple of rushed footsteps coming from the second floor, she looked up. She had dealt with cops before, and in situations like these, they always formed a barricade. And since their mission was to protect this Weaselton-guy, that was where he with all likelihood would be.

Despite that, this didn't seem like it would be much of a challenge for the experienced ocelot. The ZPD weren't issued real firearms (only special units were given those), so this wasn't going to be that different from shooting at target dummies.

She went back to the hall to shut the door; given that she had incapacitated the surveillance, it would probably take some time before any kind of backup showed up. However, an open door and screams would no doubt urge some passerby to call 911 and make her situation considerably more difficult.

As she closed the door, she failed to spot a pair of polar bears on the other side of the street, which saw her clearly from inside their own car. They immediately went ahead and called for their own backup.

Meanwhile, Bouvier, Manning and the other three officers were busy setting up an ambush for the upcoming assault. They blocked the door with a bookshelf and started to move the sofa over to the windows.

"I take it that this is what we've been waiting for…!" Manning muttered as he and a jackal named Johnson moved the heavy sofa.

"Sure is," the jackal replied and glanced at the blocked doorway. "I just made a call to the surveillance truck but got no response. She might've gotten to them first."

"No…!" Bouvier said, her eyes wide with fear.

"Keep your head cool! I sent a message to the station, they'll get right on it!" Johnson said before he and the others ducked behind the sofa. "Whether it's a lone ranger or a dirty dozen, they're not gonna get through here so easy!"

Loading and taking off the safety of their paw-printers and tranq-pistols, the officers aimed at the blocked door. Hearing the muffled noise of gunshots through the walls, they all tensed up and were ready to fire at any given moment when the door could open.

The gunshots soon stopped, and things got really quiet, and as they did, time soon began to drag. As seconds turned into minutes, the officers started to become increasingly nervous.

"What's keeping her?" Bouvier whispered to Manning, who shushed her.

With all of their eyes trained to the door, the officers failed to notice the ocelot that was currently moving across the windows behind them.

With great skill, she had managed to sneak into the room before this one, and with the soft movements that were typical for a smaller type of feline, she had gotten out through the window and were currently climbing over to the windows of the officer-filled room. Spotting the three, Alexis struggled and managed to pull out the last of her flash bangs.

Throwing it through the glass of the window, the grenade landed right among the unprepared officers. Turning their heads, Manning instinctively flung his arms around Bouvier's face and cried out "FLASH BANG!"

As the light exploded into the room and blinded the officer's, the ocelot averted her eyes and stayed outside the window till it was safe to look again.

The Doberman had managed to cover Bouvier's eyes pretty well, but she still struggled to see anything but blurry shades and spots as Manning pulled back from her head.

The others, including Manning, had not been as lucky, tripping over each other and rubbing their eyes like crazy.

"Where is the weasel?" An accented voice suddenly asked. Bouvier blinked, an unfamiliar blur of yellow, black and brown had appeared before her.

"What," she said in confusion. In response, she received a hard smack on the side of her face by something hard.

"I'll do worse if you're unless you start being more helpful!" The voice continued, and as Bouvier's eyes adjusted, she began to see that it belonged to the ocelot for which she and the others had been prepped to encounter, who held her by the collar of her uniform and was aiming an SMG right at her face.

"Eat shit," she said, which earned her an unamused scowl from the assassin.

"Oh yeah?" Alexis said and forced the SMG's muzzle and part of the barrel into the shocked goat's mouth, making her nearly choke on the thick taste of iron and gunpowder. "You eat lead then!"

Then an aggressive growl made the ocelot's ears twitch. Looking at her right, she saw a Doberman officer, his eyes tear-filled and bloodshot, with his upper lip curled up, and had his big and curved canine teeth bared at her.

"Listen, you messed up bitch, if you want the weasel, I can tell you where he is. You just get that goddamn gun away from her! She's going to be a mother for Christ sake, doesn't that mean anything to you!?"

This prompted Alexis to raise her eyebrow and then give the goat and odd look.

"Is that so?" She said and pulled the gun out of the female goat's mouth, who coughed and felt sick.

A memory swiftly flashed before the assassin's eyes. Suddenly she was back in France, with everyone screaming and chaos reigning. Before her, on the ground, laid a mother and her child… They were both dead; both of them had killed by her gun.

"I see…." She muttered as she returned to the present, taking the finger from the trigger of her gun and instead used the butt of it to strike the goat in the back of her head, knocking her out. "There you go," she said and turned to face the Doberman, her gun now trained at him. "Now, while I'm still feeling generous, tell me where I can find Weaselton."

Manning nodded at a thin door nearby.

"Through that door and up the stairs. He's hiding in the attic."

"Hm…" Alexis eyed the dog, whose blinking eyes had gone worriedly down towards at the unconscious goat. "Are you the father?"

"No," Manning replied, and at the very same moment as he did, Alexis shot him in the hip.

The Doberman screamed and fell down, clutching the wound.

"Good… I'll have you know, I can't stand a lying dog, so if I don't find the one I'm looking for up there, I'm gonna come back down here and violently neuter you with this gun. Capiche?" She said, but got no response from the dog, who were in too much pain to even hear her.

Rolling her eyes, she then made her way toward the door. As she opened it, she faced a steep and narrow case of stairs that lead upward. Walking and closing the door behind her, she began to make her way up those steps.

Eventually getting up in the attic, she looked around to see herself surrounded by several stacked up cardboard boxes, and in the corner of the room, a bed.

Her eyes narrowed as she spotted what looked like a little brown tail peeking out from underneath it.

"Now listen here Weaselton," she spoke up and began to walk over towards it, "we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. You play along and I'll give you a quick one between the eyes. Otherwise, I might take things personally and…" Finally reaching it and grabbing the tail, she pulled it and dragged her target out in the open.

Alexis, who had lived many bizarre and strange things while making a living as a mercenary and assassin, was shocked all the same to her core as found out that what she had pulled out wasn't a real weasel at all, but a stuffed otter-toy.

She recognized as a blue-clad character from a movie poster, whose title was something along the lines Floatzen or something. Squeezing it and looking into the shiny button eyes with a dumbfounded expression, the doll began to play a song that really annoyed the ocelot for some reason.

"Let it float, let it FLOAT!"

Over this, the ocelot's ears suddenly picked up a harsh, female voice coming from outside the building.

"ALEXANDRA KOTIJANOVA!" It said, apparently with the help of a large megaphone. "This is commander May Swinton of the Razorbacks talking! We know you're in there!"

It quickly dawned on Alexis that she had been set up, making her heart jump up her throat.

She had of course heard of the Razorbacks. They were the Zootopia Special Forces (ZSWAT), who was known to be really tough bastards that were armed to the teeth with lethal firearms and were the ones they called in to quell dangerous situations like riots, hostage situations, and other fun stuff.

"Nyet…!" She hissed and threw the otter-doll against the wall (making it re-play the same fucking song) before rushed down the stairs.

When she came down, she tried to open the door but found that she couldn't. She tried to furiously ram her shoulder against the door, only to be painfully reminded of her burnt arm. Gritting her teeth, she realized that something was blocking the door on the other side.

Looking down at her SMG, she realized that she had like four bullets left of her last clip and only a single shotgun shell in one of her inner pockets. "FUCK!" She screamed and furiously began to make her way up the stairs again.

"A trap eh?" Nick Wilde mumbled as he took another spoonful of Bonnie Hopps delicious blueberry pie. He then pointed at his partner on the other side of the bars with the spoon and chuckled. "Sly bunny."

"Well, I guess you've had a certain influence on me," Judy replied as she stood with her arms crossed and a triumphant little smile on her face, sitting on a folded chair in the corridor of the holding cell block.

"Uh-huh… Though one thing still puzzles me: How on earth did you manage to convince your parents to house Weaselton and his family until the trial?"

"They were actually the ones who suggested it." Nick gave Judy a look of skeptical disbelief, making the bunny nod admittedly in response.

"Yeah, I could hardly believe it myself… You see, right after Finnick dropped me off and I went to see how they were doing, Bogo called and updated me on the situation. Apparently, they had a hard time finding a proper safe house on such a short notice, given that the criminals known as the Rat Pack was in town and had already taken most of the good ones for the sake of ratting out their own bosses. Anyway, mom and dad overheard it, and as soon as I finished talking, they said that Weaselton and his family could live with them if that would help me in any way."

"… And you just agreed to it?" Nick wondered. Judy shook her head.

"I tried to talk them out of it, but they wouldn't take no for an answer. Something about 'understanding my world' or something."

"Did they know about Duke's record?"

"Of course, I told them, but they still wouldn't take no for an answer. They argued that nobody could be dumb enough to burgle the family of the cop who had just put him and his family in protective custody."

"Good point, though I wouldn't underestimate Duke's stupidity," Nick mumbled. "Did you know that he tried to sell knock-off Predex-watches with three exes in them? He tried to market them as extra-extra-extra limited editions."

"Did he now?" Judy asked with an amused tone and giggled. "Either way, I'm not that worried anymore. Delgato and Laughton are going to transfer to the Burrows and keep a lookout. Plus, I have a feeling that as long as his siblings are all right, he won't get up to any mischief… By the way, how are things going with Flash?"

"Better than I expected. It may take a while going over stuff with him, but he knows this legal stuff better than I do, and that's saying something. And considering all the stuff you and Honey have managed to gather, he thinks this trial should be a real cakewalk," Nick said before giving the bunny a grateful expression. "I really do appreciate what you've done for me."

"Oh don't mention it, it's nothing really," Judy replied and light-heartedly waved it off with her paw.

"Yes, it is. You have no idea how it makes me feel."

The two stared at each other, another one of those awkward silences showing it's ugly face in between them. Judy gave off a little cough and scratched the back of her right ear.

"You would've done the same for me."

"I would…" The fox said in a low voice and nodded. Biting his lip, he then continued. "Um, listen here Carrots, there's something I want to talk about."

Judy stared at Nick. Why did that sentence make her heart suddenly pick up a pace?

"Sounds serious…!"

"It is… You see, it's a question I've wanted to ask you for quite a while," Nick continued. "I would've done it sooner, but… Well…"

"Uh-huh…?" Judy said and expectantly edged her chair closer to bars of the cell. Nick swallowed.

"Would… I mean, what is…"

Looking into the bunny's big, violet eyes, Nick suddenly felt speechless. It was like his tongue had suddenly become glued to the roof of his mouth… When was the last time he had felt like this anyway? High School? He was thirty-two for Christ's sake, why did this have to be so difficult?! All of a sudden he felt like a Clearasil-dipped teen misfit again, back when he had this big crush on Vixie Russell, the prettiest cheerleader of his class. Making a long story short, his courage failed him in this most crucial moment and made him choke, so instead of saying intended question, he found himself asking something completely different.

"… The pancake incident?"

Judy's eyes widened and her mouth opened in disbelief, and the fox mentally slapped his forehead on account of his cowardice. What the hell was wrong with him?!

"…THAT'S what you want to ask me?" Judy asked, not really sure whether she wanted to laugh or strangle her dad for ever mentioning that embarrassing little episode from her childhood.

"Yeah… It's been eating me up since it was brought up," Nick lied and then made a pair of exaggerated puppy-eyes. "Pretty please tell me, your poor imprisoned partner?"

Giving her partner an odd look, the bunny sighed.

"Okay then… When I was about eight, there was going to be this bake-off at this festival which the Burrows arrange every year. Mom had convinced me to take part of it, probably because she thought it might take my mind off my police-dream. She and dad did that a lot before they realized I wouldn't quit on it… Anyway, I had decided to make a pancake cake with-"

Judy's voice trailed off as she noticed someone approaching. It was officer Hohenheim, who stopped before her with a serious expression.

"Judy, the chief wants to talk to you right now. It's urgent," the gorilla said.

"I'll be back soon," Judy told Nick and got up from her chair.

"You better be, the cliffhanger is killing me!" He called after her.

"Dumb fox," she mumbled and shook her head as she walked away. Nick, on the other hand, continued to consume the delicious pie that had been given to him.

Swarming into the building, the Razorbacks, dressed in granite-grey uniforms, began to search every room with their MP5A2 rifles ready for action. What they found looked like a war zone, with walls covered in bullet holes and tranq darts. Bodies of ZPD officers were scattered on a path towards the third floor, all of them in critical conditions or worse.

As the ZSWAT-members secured the area, experienced ambulance workers began to put the wounded onto stretchers and carried them out of the building with as much haste as they could afford.

Eventually making it up to the top floor, they found the room where they had been instructed to go. After opening with it certain difficulty, they went in and found five live officers. This included a wounded Doberman, which we're resting on the floor with a female goat, who were busy pressing a piece of cloth over a bleeding wound on his hip.

The other four officers were busy holding a big couch against a thin door nearby.

Chelsea Bouvier looked up when one of the Razorbacks (which was actually a panda) approached her and fixed Manning with a serious expression.

"Where is the target?" He asked.

"Up in the attic," Bouvier replied and pointed at the blocked door.

"Good, and don't worry, the ambulance workers is on their way." He said and grabbed a piece of his headset and spoke into it. "This is Zhao, we have it confirmed that the target is trapped in the attic as planned."

"Good. Make sure the wounded gets out of there before proceeding," a female voice responded.

"Understood," Zhao said and turned to face his men. "Get ready boys, we're going to go up there in just a few moments, and remember, she needs to be alive to face trial. Your goal is to incapacitate, so aim at non-lethal areas only."

This was officially the biggest trouble ever, and Alexis had walked straight into it like a complete greenhorn! Three SMG bullets and a single shotgun shell wouldn't be enough to do anything but create dents in the bulletproof vests of the Special Forces that now had cornered up in the attic like a rat. She desperately searched the boxes around for something she could use to fend the coppers off, but only found useless documents and papers in some kind of foreign language (several of them had an odd symbol of a hammer hitting an anvil that seemed oddly familiar).

Angrily throwing the boxes aside, her eyes widened when she found a small window, which seemed to be just about the right size for her to get through. Cracking it open with the butt of her rifle, she peeked out of it and looked down. It led out into an alley behind the building, but it was clear that it was way too far down for her to jump. Looking around, she could see a pipe on her left leading down to the ground not too far away from the window.

A makeshift plan formed in her mind and she rushed back, in good time to her some suspicious noise downstairs. In a hurry, she began to throw the cardboard boxes and the documents down the stairs, clogging the path up to her. After crinkling up some of the paper into balls, she then picked up her last shotgun shell from her pocket and ripped off the primer, pouring out the black gunpowder over the paper. Searching her pants she, she soon found her lighter too (she didn't smoke anymore, but still carried it around out of habit) and then used to ignite the powder and make burn and pop like a firecracker. The flame it created began grew at a rapid pace and began to fill the room with smoke.

Having finished the distraction, the ocelot hurried back to the small window and climbed out, though not before removing the SMG and placing it on the floor (it was too big and clumsy for her to carry it and climb down at the same time).

Reaching out and barely managing to grab the pipe, she began to slide down. Losing control after about three-thirds of it, she came down too fast and landed a little too hard on her feet. Cursing and managing to stand up beside the pain in her legs and starting to limp away, as she knew that she had to get out of there before the Razorbacks realized that she was no longer in the building.

Getting towards the end of the alley, Alexis stopped in her tracks as she found her path blocked by a familiar-looking car. The door opened to reveal the face of her uncle Kozlov peaking out.

"Get in here, QUICK!" He said.

Alexis blinked in confusion. This didn't really feel right at all, but considering the there were more pressing circumstances at hand, she threw caution to the wind and hurried into the car. With her in it, the driver of the vehicle floored it and soon made it into major traffic, with the ZSWAT-filled three-story house growing ever distant.

"Alexandra," Kozlov said in a neutral tone as Alexis sat up and met his look. His expression was anything but amused.

"Uncle," Alexis said and tried to match the polar bear's mood. Looking around, she noticed four brown bears, two each sitting on the sides of her and Kozlov. All of them was many times her size and did not look overly pleased to see her. "You know, we REALLY need to stop meeting like this… So what's going happen now eh? Back to the shrew-father?"

"No," Kozlov said and sighed. "As much as this goes against my employer, whom I genuinely respect and are loyal to, you are still Dimitri's daughter… I gave him my word that I would do anything to keep you out of harm's way, and so I shall. You have nothing to fear at the moment."

Raising her eyebrows, the ocelot then crossed her arms and relaxed somewhat.

"Then where are you taking me?"

"To the edge of town. If I were you I'd get myself to the nearest airport and leave this city forever," Kozlov replied.

Alexis snorted.

"Heh, as wonderful as that sounds, I must refuse. I still have a job to finish."

Kozlov glared at the feline.

"Do you think this is fun?! This is the last time I can do anything for you, your final chance to get out of this before you get killed!" He growled angrily at his goddaughter. "If your father was still alive, what would he have said?"

This caused a curious reaction from Alexis, who hardly ever showed her genuine emotions. With her careless façade cracking, it first exposed a stunned look, which soon transformed into one of intense anger.

"My father is dead…! The dead don't speak, so don't think I am doing this for anyone but MYSELF!" She screamed and pointed at the surprised bear with an accusing finger. "You always go on about what a great soldier and friend he was to you, but have you ever really stopped to think about what he was like to me?! Didn't you ever wonder what it was that drove me into this life?! I won't make excuses, because he was a fine soldier all right, and a decent father… at first. The older I got, the novelty of being parent seemed to run dry for him… Gone was the honor and pride that you remember so fondly, and the only thing left was a sad shell, a shriveled-up nothing who lamented his past sins and drank to keep his demons at bay…! In the end, he wasn't drinking the liquor, the liquor was drinking him!" The ocelot the lowered her arm, a melancholic sort of emptiness taking shape in her eyes. "I refuse to end up like that… If this gig is going to get the better of me, at least gonna die like he should have."

Kozlov stared at the feline. He couldn't recall ever seeing her like this, and for some reason, it hurt.

"… So you will not do as I say?"

"Nyet," the ocelot said and shook her head. "This is my life, my choice."

"Hearing that makes me sad… But at least I've tried," Kozlov said as the car slowed down. Looking out the window, Alexis saw that they were now on the same street as her apartment. "I mean it, Alexandra, this is the very last time I'll help you. Next time we see each other, I'll have to kill you."

Looking at her uncle, Alexis nodded and smiled, having returned to her artificial cheer, before getting up and stepping out of the car.

She then turned to face Kozlov one last time.

"There are worse ways to go," Alexis said before harshly slamming the door of the car shut.

"… This is not possible. I can't believe what I'm hearing," Judy said. She was now in chief Bogo's office, and the buffalo had just told what had become of the plan.

Apparently, the assassin had shown up, wounded several officers who were now on their way to the hospital, and had then become trapped in the attic as intended. But then, just as the Razorbacks were about to arrest her, they found out that she had started a fire, which had quickly spread. Getting out of the building and calling the firefighters, who had managed to kill the fire, the officers had then discovered no trace whatsoever of the ocelot.

Having heard all of this from the chief himself, an overpowering, sinking feeling had taken hold of Judy's stomach.

"You better be, cause I'm not," Bogo said while rubbing his temple. "Eight fine officers in critical condition or worse… She was trapped and hunted by the Razorbacks and she still got away. And now the goddamn press knows! BY ALLAH, WHAT THE HELL!?" The buffalo screamed and slammed his hoofed hands into his desk. "Now it won't take long before every reporter in town wants to know what's going on, and then we have to stand and explain ourselves like a bunch of goddamn morons!"

"I don't understand," Judy mumbled, still not wrapping her head around this. "How could she have escaped just like that?!"

"I don't know Hopps," the buffalo muttered. "Either she's awful paranoid, or there's another leak in this station… Whatever it is, it's not boding well for any of us. The city council is going to look for somebody to blame, and that means that either of our jobs could be on the line."

"I… I am sorry," Judy said, earning a look from the buffalo.

"Oh don't make that face Hopps!" He said in annoyance. "Don't take too much of the credit… Obviously, this woman is sneakier than we could've ever anticipated."

"But it was my stupid plan…!"

"Which I approved of because I believed it would work," Bogo replied. "Don't make a big thing of this just yet, you still have a job to do getting Wilde out of trouble. You're excused."

Judy nodded and then left the office, still pretty unsure of her despite Bogo's gruff assurances. Just then, her phone beeped. Judy pulled out her phone and opened the message she had just received, which came from an unknown number.

"Officer Hopps, I'm someone who wants to help with the case. In the impound lot, they have the car of your assassin, it should have some clues there. It should be parked under number 214B," the message said, making Judy gasp.

The ZPD impound lot was a great underground garage that was darkly lit and damp, containing plenty of cars, motorbikes and even an entire septic tank truck. Most people would find it creepy, but Judy, like most rabbits, had spent most of her early life in a burrow. Admittedly, these surroundings were hardly as homely as the burrow-houses of her hometown, whose tunnels led a lot further down below ground and were impressively built to house ever-growing families through all weathers and seasons.

Trying to turn on the lights, she found that the switch didn't work and took out a small flashlight from her belt. Going through the garage and looking around, she passed the familiar frame of Flash Slothmore's sports car ('some lawyer who gets caught speeding' she thought) before finding what she was looking for.

She approached the truck and was about to study it, when the sound of something behind her made her spin around. To her surprise she saw another ZPD officer; a young wolf who was covering his eyes from the light of Judy's flashlight.

"… Moony? It is Moony, isn't it? The new recruit under Wolford, right?" She asked.

"Ah, officer Hopps, I'm sorry if I scared you," the wolf said as Judy lowered her flashlight.

"No biggie, I'm just a little jumpy these days. What are you doing down here?" She asked, looking back at the car.

"Wolford sent me, told me that there might be some vital evidence in this here truck," the wolf replied and patted the side of it.

"Really, what is it?" Judy asked and went to look into the window of the passenger seat.

"You~" The wolf said softly, and before Judy could react, she was grabbed from behind and a cloth was pressed over her mouth and nose.

Panic rose in the shocked rabbit as she struggled to get loose while an acrid, burning smell made it's way up her nostrils. Soon her body grew heavy and her head began to feel light-headed, with her last thoughts being a constant barrage of no's before she lost consciousness.

Holding the limp rabbit and removing the chloroform-soaked cloth, the "wolf" grinned and betrayed a perfect set of flat teeth. "Sleep tight pred-lover, cause you're gonna have a very rude awakening in the morning."