We apologize for how long this has taken, and welcome back!
Author's Notes:
Steffi: I know you guys are probably mad we vanished like that, but we really do have a reason! My computer which is also my family's computer died and since we can't afford a new one until June, I've been stuck writing on my brother's tablet. That would be fine except its ancient and overheats and crashes constantly. I have lost so much writing that way :(
Nyxy: I unfortunately don't have such a valid excuse, but I do have a job and responsibilities that make writing rather low on the priority list. As a way of making it up to our loyal readers, we've got the antagonists to reveal a bit more than originally planned, which will hopefully keep your attention. Updates after this should be fairly on schedule, though.
Steffi: So there's our reasoning, now for our writing! Review replies and author goofiness at the end as always :D
DISCLAIMER: If it's on this page, we don't own it obviously! Duh!
Later that day...
Ezra stared longingly at a vibrant cityscape, framed by one of the room's towering picture windows. The evening sky was painted in swirling shades of lavender, and a majority of shops and residences were lighting up as the day came to a close. Eyes wide with youthful innocence, he could barely tear his gaze away from the glow of Zootopia's nightlife district, instead admiring each hazy neon flicker.
He'd grown up in a city of course, but it hadn't been anything like this. Feralheights was a place of poverty, corruption and sadness, though he knew from his parent's stories that it hadn't always been that way. Once, according to them, it had resembled Zootopia in its grandeur and architecture, though he'd come to doubt their proud statements recently. In Ezra's mind, nothing could compare to his current residence, with it's dizzying array of subcultures and brilliant newness.
"I know you're not watching the cars go by. Darkin won't be back for a few more hours, so don't think you'll win any points for fake devotion," Vivian said flatly, flipping through the pages of a trashy novel as she lounged aimlessly on the expensive white couch.
Sighing, the coywolf tried to ignore her rudeness. There was still wonder in the world, no matter how hard animals like Vivian tried to destroy it. He really, truly believed that. Unfortunately, he also knew the bad things outweighed the good in life.
"I'm not trying to win points," he stated plainly, being careful to avoid leaving so much as a single pawprint on the pristine glass.
Vivian stretched half-heartedly, but made no effort to move from the comfort of her perch.
"I don't believe you, but fine. Honestly though, what is so fascinating about watching a bunch of Naturals run in circles for hours? I suppose their lack of intelligence can be entertaining, but you've lived here for over a month. It's nothing new."
Watching with lowered ears, Ezra could just make out the form of a family embracing on the street, and though he couldn't see their faces, he knew they were smiling. Lucky. As much as he tried to fight it, there was a familiar prickle of bitterness in the young coywolf's chest, and he didn't like it one bit.
Hoping for a distraction, the somewhat reckless canine decided to start an argument. "What's your problem with the Naturals anyway? I understand why you hate BlackIce, but these mammals haven't done anything wrong," he said, gesturing with a shaky flick of his paw to the reflective window.
Sitting up and crossing her slender legs, Vivian set down the book she'd been skimming and frowned, her ears pinned back in clear annoyance.
"We hate them because they are ignorant, but mostly because they think we're some sort of cheap science fiction gimmick. Cyborgs, or whatever the summer blockbuster of the year is selling to the masses. They live freely, while we have to hide our very existence, all despite the fact Changelings are infinitely superior. Why would we not despise them?"
There was a sharp passion in her voice, and Ezra knew better than to keep pushing. If he continued, he'd end up starting a fight he couldn't finish.
"BlackIce doesn't hate them," he deflected, watching her response carefully.
Vivian's eyes narrowed and she growled softly, something which didn't go unnoticed by the room's younger occupant.
"BlackIce, if we must dignify them with a name, are simpleminded traitors of their own kind. They deny other Changelings the right to use our abilities in the way they were intended, and work to ensure we never claim the power and influence that rightfully belongs to us. They're just as bad as the Naturals. In fact, they're worse."
The hybrid was no expert on iSANiTY's long-running challenger, but he doubted they were as horrid as Vivian and Darkin would have him believe. It was certainly odd that they eschewed a movement meant to uplift their fellow Changelings, but he figured there had to be a reason. Indeed, some of the things his own organization had done in the name of success were best left untouched.
"I see your point," he lied, avoiding her judgemental gaze.
Appearing unimpressed by the pup's cautious agreement, Vivian gazed longingly at her discarded book.
"I'm not too worried, though. We've taken a city before, and BlackIce ultimately failed to prevent an exceptionally high number of casualties. Who's to say we can't do it again here?"
Satisfied with her words, the elegantly-dressed animal fluffed her crimson fur and sighed contentedly. This did not go over well with Ezra, who was currently battling both his growing fear and anger.
"Zootopia isn't exactly another Feralheights. I don't think you can convince everyone to look away for a couple grand like you could back there. It's not the same thing."
Almost immediately, he regretted being so forward. Vivian stood up slowly, her face a mask of near-emotionless rage.
"You're a stupid little pup, aren't you," she half-whispered, slinking towards his shivering form, "there's a reason we haven't shared the details. iSANiTY will not be bribing anyone now, or ever again."
She sneered viciously, her usually seductive face twisted into something almost unrecognizable. Ezra instinctively slipped a paw into the pocket of his well-worn hoodie and gripped the corner of his phone, but was struck by the realization a moment later that he had absolutely no one he could call.
While Vivian was only a few inches taller and quite delicate in form, she seemed to tower over the coywolf as she continued her rant. Hurry up, Darkin. Please.
"Let's just say that by the time anyone figures out Phase Two isn't another cheap NightHowler copycat, it will be far too late for BlackIce, the police, or any other pitiful band of mammals to stop us. We were created for this, after all. Who are they to take away our destinies?"
Back with our heroes...
Her favorite café was surprisingly busy for a weekday evening, but Judy didn't mind an upbeat change of pace. She recognized some of the more regular visitors, as well as a few rambunctious teens using as many sugar packets as they could possibly fit in a cup.
Watching such a thing would've probably proved quite entertaining, but Judy's attention was instead focused on an array of photographs and text currently being displayed by her brand new laptop's glossy screen.
Though it had at first seemed unnecessary, she'd decided to independently do a little research on the arctic fox they'd interviewed earlier. Her call to Penny had revealed nothing suspicious, but she hadn't been able to shake a nagging feeling that something was more than a little off about the vixen. Her curiosity and intuition had solved many a difficult case in the past, and running a name through Zoogle was pretty simple, all things considered.
Or at least, it would've been simple if Nick hadn't insisted on posting a bunch of annoying comments to Wynter's lone social media page. Since they were off work for the day and Judy's search was technically unrelated to their case, she couldn't really find a valid reason to stop him.
"Will you hurry up? I don't think she'll even see that," Judy said, pausing as she sipped her latte, "by the looks of it, this page is pretty old."
The profile did have a few more recent text posts, but most of the photographs had been taken years ago in what must've been Feralheights. Judy couldn't recognize the area, though it appeared plain, worn-down and strangely vacant. Aside from Wynter and a few unfamiliar reccurring faces, it almost looked abandoned. The bunny had only seen two animals in the image backgrounds, and neither of them were even close to cheerful.
"Oh come on Carrots, let me have a little fun," Nick said smugly, sliding the device away from her end of the table and earning the sarcastic animal a glare from his best friend.
Judy rolled her eyes at him, setting down the half-full mug she'd been holding with a soft clink.
"If your idea of fun is starting fights with your ex over PawSpace, then I think I've found some new friends in your age group," the bunny enthused with a grin, turning to face a group of tweens taking selfies as they attempted to balance assorted desserts on their faces.
"Nice one, Whiskers. You almost hurt my ego," the fox stated coolly, retaining his usual lazy confidence and half-lidded expression. It was obvious Nick wasn't particularly thrilled by her quip, but he wasn't getting defensive like earlier, either.
Judy laughed a bit, but didn't respond. Instead, she grabbed the smooth base of her laptop and yanked it back to her side of the table, carefully dodging her latte in the process. Judy couldn't be bothered to log Nick out of his account, instead returning her attention to the assortment of results her search had dug up, some of which seemed completely unrelated to their witness and made very little sense to the bunny cop.
Aside from her aforementioned PawSpace profile, Alexa Wynter didn't seem to have much of an online presence. There were a few newspaper articles mentioning her self-defense courses, and a cheap-looking bar that listed the vixen as a featured musician, neither of which Judy found noteworthy.
In fact, there seemed to be hardly anything of interest, unless you counted a few sites that looked like some form of foreign scam gone horribly wrong. Although curious, Judy knew better than to click on such a suspicious set of links.
Taking a drink of her latte, the bunny momentarily allowed her mind to wander back to the amnesia case, somewhat disappointed that she hadn't gained any new information.
"Hmm, what's this?" Nick asked, raising one eyebrow and reaching over to tap on the touchpad of her laptop. Before she had a chance to stop him, he'd loaded one of the dangerous-looking websites. Great.
"If you give me a virus, you're replacing this," Judy muttered, only half joking.
Curiosity quickly got the better of her though, and she found herself reading what appeared to be a very strange internet forum. The background was black, with pixelated and pure white text. Whoever coded the thing hadn't made readability one of their priorities.
"I promise," Nick responded slyly, in what had to be one of the least sincere voices she'd ever heard.
Leaning closer to her laptop's glowing screen, the violet-eyed mammal found herself becoming thoroughly confused. Going off what she'd read, the site seemed to be based around some sort of bizarre conspiracy.
Tilting her head, Judy gingerly clicked on one of the many threads.
"What exactly is this?"
Nick shrugged. "Looks to me like a relaxing getaway for the tinfoil hats," he said sarcastically, watching his partner's animated expressions with pure amusement.
"Um, I guess so," she mumbled, scrolling down wordlessly after a few minutes of squinty-eyed reading.
The entire thing made very little sense to Judy. The site's users all seemed to be ranting about something called the 'Feralheights Experiment Conspiracy' and how it had either been caused or covered up by a variety of different organizations. Most blamed something called NEMO, but opinions varied and their disagreements often grew heated. As she'd never heard of these things, it was confusing and difficult to follow at best.
From what she'd managed to gather so far, the city of Feralheights had apparently been run by a corrupt government involved in funding high-tech experiments on its residents. What those experiments were was conveniently left up to interpretation, though the lack of information was supposedly a part of some big coverup by NEMO.
It also stated that these experiments had been directly responsible for the Feralheights disaster, something Judy had seen mentioned in passing but never really bothered to study.
Despite her lack of familiarity, it seemed exceptionally disrespectful to twist what had been a very real tragedy into some form of science fiction conspiracy.
As for the Feralheights disaster itself, if she were going by the site alone, then supposedly a large number of animals involved in the experiments had either rebelled or gone mad, causing massive damage to the city and its inhabitants. Not all post-experiment mammals had been affected, however. There was a rather persistent sitewide rumor that some were trying to prevent similar incidents by forming a vigilante justice movement, though they were frequently accused of being fictional or pawns designed to appease the public eye.
In all honesty, Judy thought the entire thing sounded like an excellent plot for a movie or book, but absolutely ridiculous as a real-life theory. It crossed her mind that the whole thing could be fake, and she had to hope it was. Then again, who would put that amount of effort into faking something so obscure and presumably useless?
Hitting back just a little too quickly, she returned to the page Nick had landed on when he'd so obnoxiously taken over her expensive new laptop. On it were a variety of official news articles, many edited to feature commentary from the site's owner, known only as 'Dark'.
Most were reports on the many casualties caused by a series of massive underground explosions and the resulting fires, which Feralheights had been completely under-equipped to deal with. Despite her familiarity with police work and the tragedies it could bring, Judy was genuinely horrified by some of the more graphic eyewitness accounts and contemplated closing her browser more than once.
A lot of the tiny words blurred together against an unforgiving background, but the bunny's eyes widened in shock when she noticed a specific name amongst the hundreds of eyewitnesses listed. Alexa Wynter.
Reading further into the paragraph, she felt her temper flare.
While we were unable to reach authorities for comment, Feralheights Journal was on the scene immediately. Naturally, we managed to bypass security and access a group of survivors as they received field treatment. Some of these animals witnessed the entire scene take place, including the devastating fire which claimed hundreds of lives. Among them were Alexa Wynter, George Smallpaw, Louisa Katts and Jamie Whitetail. Due to time constraints and lack of witness cooperation, many of our interviews were unfortunately cut short. Still, as the first reporting agency on the grounds, we think they will give curious readers a glimpse of the juicy action.
Judy had always hated how callous and insensitive the press could be when dealing with a tragedy, but this was a new low. Juicy action? They should be ashamed! Gritting her teeth and resisting the urge to thump her foot on the neatly tiled floor, the bunny took a deep breath before continuing.
Scrolling down in a state of near disbelief, her opinion of Feralheights Journal would only get worse.
The first mammal we attempted to interview was George Smallpaw. He hadn't been in the hot zone, but said he'd "never heard anything like it" and that "I honestly thought the sky was falling". Before we could ask him any more questions, he was dragged away by his wife towards one of the treatment areas and we were unable to follow without alerting security. Meanwhile, our second reporter was attempting to get information from another witness. Alexa Wynter had been only a few blocks away from the first explosion, but refused to share any useful details. When asked how the accident affected her, she replied "I lost my best friend in that inferno, so yeah, you could say it affected me". We pressed for more details on her reaction to the event, however she replied sharply that she was "under no obligation to answer that", and stormed off in an aggressive huff. Thankfully all was not lost, as we were able to continue our interrogation with Louisa Katts, who was hysterical but vivid and unflinching in her descriptions. "It was awful", she insisted with tears in her eyes, "the worst thing I've ever seen". She continued to shake and hyperventilate, but did not waiver in her responses until the medical team sent her away in an ambulance.
At this point, Zootopia's first rabbit officer was beyond angry. How dare they treat victims with such heartless indifference? Not to mention the way thinking of Wynter losing her best friend sent shivers down the petite mammal's spine. She simply couldn't imagine the loss her own best friend. Well, actually she could, but... No. While Nick was at times exceptionally annoying, she loved him just as much as one of her many brothers. It was definitely best not to think of something as needlessly heart-wrenching as that.
And speaking of Nick, the fox had long finished reading over her shoulder and was now wearing a sly grin and conversing with the rather flustered waitress, who currently held a tray of expensive and quickly-cooling specialty drinks. Judy couldn't help but smile. Some things would never change, and she wouldn't want them to.
After the youthful leopard had gathered their dishes and given Nick one last naïve glance, Judy silently implored for her partner to finish reading the article that had made her so upset. At first he acted uninterested, but she noticed the subtle changes in his expression as it grew more serious. Considering he was a remarkably fast reader, it didn't take long before the fox was done.
"It's horrible, isn't it," Judy asked, yet again fighting the desire to tap her foot after skimming over a few of the descriptions.
"It is," Nick replied, without a trace of sarcasm. "The layout of this site is disgusting. Desperately needs an update, too." Maybe she'd spoken too soon.
Judy rolled her eyes for what had to be the hundredth time that day. While an animal less familiar with Nick might've been offended by the fox's snarky response, she knew it was just his way of coping. He actually did care, no matter how hard he tried to hide that fact behind an air of confident sarcasm.
Before she had a chance to say anything in response, the laptop made a loud and rather startling beep. Nearly flinching in surprise, Judy immediately traced the cause to a large notification that had popped up, hiding much of the strange forum behind it. She hoped it wasn't a virus, but could already imagine the bitter I-told-you-so's she'd lovingly share with her fluffy-tailed partner if it was.
Reading quickly however, the bunny couldn't suppress a giggle. Wynter had definitely found the messages Nick left for her, and she was not happy about them.
"She blocked you," Judy laughed, "and even left you a parting message. Do you honestly think I wanna be reminded? Go away Nick!" She read it out loud happily, despite the fact her friend was more than capable of reading his ex's affectionate words alone. "What exactly did you say?"
"That's between me and Frostbite," the fox stated plainly, though she could tell his signature smirk was just a little too exaggerated.
Judy snickered. "I'm guessing it wasn't very polite."
"You'd make a good detective, Carrots," Nick said sarcastically, a flicker of mischief in his green eyes. The bunny grinned. She was grateful for the distraction from what she'd read earlier, but that didn't mean she couldn't play this game.
"It doesn't take a detective, you dumb fox."
Nick leaned forward, lazily resting an arm on the table's polished surface.
"Nah, just a really sly bunny," he said, gazing at his best friend with a laid-back smile.
Exiting the browser and running a paw along her laptop's chrome exterior, the bunny closed it with a soft click, promising to continue her reading later.
"I can't argue with that", she chirped, energetically counting out the money for their evening snack. Brushing away a few remaining crumbs, she made sure to leave a generous tip as always.
"Now that's a first," the fox laughed mockingly.
"Hey!" Judy exclaimed sulkily, standing up and stretching before she grabbed her laptop and slid it easily into its pale blue case. Nick, who was in no hurry to leave the comfort of his plush seat, simply watched her.
"What? It's true," he said gleefully, making a fake dash for the door as though Judy were about to tackle him for using her words against her. If she could've managed it without risking a wipeout in the café entrance, then the bunny probably would've tried.
Later, she and Nick could be heard teasing each other playfully in the ways only close friends could, both mammals enjoying a carefree ride home. She'd buckle down and continue her research on the amnesia cases once she was alone and back at her apartment, but until then, the night was theirs. Though she loved her career and wouldn't trade it for the world, Judy found herself looking forward to Friday, when they'd truly be able to have fun and live it up. Until then however, she'd be quite content to make a bit of progress on her work. If only it were that easy...
Nyxy: Story's over, kids! Now for review time.
Steffi: Yup :D My fave time! Shout out to those who faved and followed as well!
Gil: Wow, thanks! You've officially left the longest review on this fic! We won't be able to respond to many of your points due to length, but your review was wonderful and encouraged us to keep our heads up and keep writing. As you can see, the story is starting to take a darker turn. We can only hope it has an action movie vibe, but that's really cool you think so. It's awesome you think we've got the characters down and like our original additions, too. Also good to hear you find iSANiTY sinister, since that's what we were going for with them. We hope this chapter doesn't disappoint you. Again, thanks!
Dirtkid123: OMGoodness, thank you so much! I made an inhuman noise reading your wonderful review, so I guess we're even! Lol, we're thrilled you love it so much, wow! :D
Snoring Dragon Productions: Thanks so much! :D What is Ezra's deal? Well, maybe this chapter will help shine some light on it. So glad you liked the details and the villains, it's amazing to hear that. Oh, Nick most definitely had a good reason, though Lexi doesn't know it. They should probably talk it out but hah, like that'll ever happen. They're clueless dumb foxes, after all XD Yep, Judy knows, and yeah, Wynter can usually hold her own in that department unless you get her real mad. Thanks again!
Winter Sprinkles: Thanks so much! We're amazed at how many people love our OCs, it's such a nice surprise :D Lol I see what you did there ;)
Steffi: So there you have it folks. A little darker than some of our previous scenes, but we thought it would be good to reveal some info on what our favorite characters are up against. The next few chapters will be more fun, I promise :D Also, take a look at the gorgeous cover image of Wynter made by none other than Nyxy herself. And then check out the detailed OC profiles on our profile if you're so inclined :3
Nyxy: Thanks for the compliment on my art! Backstory and the antagonist's motivations are vital to a good story, Steffi. This was a fairly difficult chapter to write, but I rather like how it turned out. I'm sure our dear readers will have quite a few questions, so I'll try to answer them. First of all, Ezra isn't as young as Vivian makes him sound. He's 14 years old, which actually is incredibly young to be involved with stuff like iSANiTY, so yeah. And yes, he's very jealous of animals with happy families... Wonder why? Also, in case you didn't realize it, the Naturals are normal, unmodified animals and Changelings are the modified ones, like Wynter and Ezra. Most Changelings hate the Naturals, though I'm sure you can see that's not always the case. As for backstory, we chose to focus more on BlackIce as revealing too much about iSANiTY or NEMO would ruin the suspense. Oh, and what exactly is NEMO? Good, bad or somewhere in between? You'll have to keep reading! What I will say is that the info Judy and Nick stumbled across was not leaked by accident. Who put it there? Patience, my dear readers...
Steffi: Nyxy loves cliffhangers. If she can't put them in the story then she'll put them in the author notes. :) But hey, thanks for reading! I apologize again for the wait, and we'll be getting back on track soon. Please fave, follow and review if you enjoyed this and want more, we always appreciate the kind words!
Thanks for reading, and we'll be back soon! Expect another chapter in 7-14 days. Bye y'all! ZeroFoxGiven awayyy~