"There it is again. Wait, no. It's gone."

"Damn it, that's the fifth time Nate, try again."

"I keep trying, but it's really hard to locate something that small."

Over the past hour we've been following the Legionary signal that Nate had intercepted back at the Guardian base. At first he picked up one signal but it turned out to be two separate ones with similar frequency tags. They were both in the same direction, for now, but one of them kept disappearing from the map, only to reappear later.

"What do you think could be causing it?"

"Any number of things. Radiation, signal degradation, reverse triangulation…"

"Wait, what? What do you mean 'reverse triangulation'?"

"Well, it's entirely possible that whoever is on the other end of the signal is trying to use it to find us as well."

"Fuck! That's not something I want to hear, we need to catch these fuckers by surprise."

"I… I'm s-sorry, I'll t-try to…"

"Oh, I am sorry Nate, I didn't mean to yell."

I gave Nate a quick hug and kiss on the muzzle. I had to remind myself to be calmer around him. With everything that Holly told me about his past, about what a… rabbit did to him, I don't think he may ever recover from that. Whenever I get angry around him, even if it's not directed towards him, his nerves break down. Thankfully I've learned that a kiss and an apology usually helps alleviate that. Much to Holly's amusement.

"You know 'livi, if you keep on doing that, he may start to feign emotions just to fish a kiss from you."

"I wouldn't!" Nate looked at me, his eyes looking worried, "I… I wouldn't."

"You don't need to. You just got to ask." I kissed him again.

"Okay, before another word comes out of Holly's lips," I glared at her, "remember, my pistol is loaded, we need to come up with a plan. Blanche, based on the direction we're going, you think this signal is leading us to their headquarters?"

"Don't think so, sky don't look right."

"What do you mean the 'sky don't look right'?"

"Well, most of us wastelanders don't have fancy arm mounted computers like you two do. For us without maps, we use the sky to direct us. Based upon the movement of the sun, and, hey Drake, mind raising your neck a little? Thanks. The horizon don't look right. I'd say their base is a bit more east from where we're going."

"What do you think it is then Blanche?"

"Probably some small outpost. Like I said, they have them scattered all over. Most of them are abandoned, used only for emergencies, but some of them have small teams that spend time there, waiting for work."

"Is it possible that these signals are from one or more of the outposts?"

"Dunno. Usually they send short bursts. It's possible they're trying to lure you into a trap."

I hadn't considered that. I kept thinking that we would have the upper paw on them, but for all I know, they already have the upper paw on us already. We definitely needed some kind of game plan.

"Nate, is it possible for you to create some kind of algorithm that can notify you if the signal changes in such a fashion that it might register as them trying to track us?"

"That's a difficult task… for someone who isn't me. I'll get right on it."

I always thought I was the greatest techie in the world, until I met Nate. Despite his shortcomings, he's even more of a genius at this stuff than I thought I could ever be. Between the two of us, I don't think anything was unsolvable. Of course, I was the only one who's built a robot.

"Now that we have that settled, there's the matter of what we'll do once we find the source of the signal. It's a complete possibility that we're following a dud, and that this will lead us nowhere. At the same time, it might lead us straight into an unknown number of Legionaries, and we need to be prepared for that. Holly, how's our ammunition holding out?"

"I took a count of it earlier, and we seem to be doing good. Thankfully that last… encounter we had didn't really use anything, so we should be good. If we happen to come across a real trader however, we may need to get some basic ammo."

"We also need some more basic supplies, like food, water, and medicine. After that last… incident with the two of you, our medical supplies are getting rather low." Mark didn't even need me to ask him. He was going all out doctor mode about the medicine that he had to use to treat Nate and I yesterday.

"Okay, doc, we'll keep our eyes out for something, but if we run into another trader who's 'off the beaten path', we need to take things a bit more cautiously. Onion and I will be keeping our eyes on the sensors, and Drake, when you are feeling up to it, can you and Blanche do some scouting? It's nice having an aerial view of things, just keep out of sight."

"Drake. Fly."

Drake took off with Blanche, now a small white ball of puff on his head, and flew forward. I didn't mean for him to go now, so I hope he didn't think I was demanding him to. He probably had it the roughest today, but at least now we're better prepared. Knowing that someone might want to try that again, we can keep a closer eye on Drake when we're dealing with questionable travelers.

"Now, we need to figure out what to do when we inevitably find the Legionaries. First and foremost, we need to make sure we have a direct connection with the Guardians at all times. Once we locate them, one of us needs to send a message to Lazlo asking for backup."

"I already talked with the Chief. He said he'll have at least one squad and one Tac-Lifter at the ready at all times."

"Thanks Holly. That'll definitely help. I just wish we had a better way to communicate with each other. Onion, Nate, and I are the only ones who have any ability to."

"You make it sound like we'll split up, you know that'll never happen."

"I know Holly, but we can't be too careful. You never know what will happen." I felt Nate's tail wrap around my waist, I looked at him, his face showing slight concern. "I'm not planning on leaving anytime soon."

"The coast is all clear." I didn't even hear Drake and Blanche come back.

"Good. No surprises, yet. Now, there's the simple matter of what we'll do when we get there. Hopefully we arrive undetected, and can set up an ambush for them."

"Alright 'livi, I have to ask, what exactly is your outcome to all this?"

"Stopping the Legionaries from coming after me, that's what Holly."

"No, I mean your end goal. Yeah, taking out a group or two of these guys will diminish their numbers, but they have more and they'll keep sending more after you. Even if we completely remove them from Zootopia, there are still other mercenaries here. If whoever is after you hired the best of the best right off the get-go, then I don't think they'll stop there. We need to find out whoever hired them in the first place."

"That's what I am hoping for, actually. I figured that the best way to get that information is to keep asking until we get the right answer. I'd rather not have to raid their own base, but if these smaller outposts don't give me the answers I need, we may have to."

"That's… well I guess it's better than nothing. I still don't like the plan 'livi."

"I don't like it either, but it's the best I can come up with. And I really don't wanna have to go through with Blanche's Corpse Engine idea."

"Hey, you asked for an idea, didn't say you had to like it."

Between Holly's teasing and Blanche's straight forward attitude, I may as well go turn myself in. Still, I can't imagine things without them. I may have been lucky with my survival in the past, but without my friends beside me, I don't think I would have made it this far. Strength through adversity, and with all the misfortune set upon us, I should be the strongest mammal alive.

"Oh, I got it again! It's much more stable than… and it's gone."

"Just keep trying Nate, if anyone can do it, it's you."

"Way to inflate the doof's ego."

"Oh, you got it wrong Marki, there's only one thing of Nate's that she wants to inflate…"

"HOLLY!"

I grabbed Nate's shirt collar and started to drag him along with me. "W-where we g-going?"

"Away from her. Plus, there are a couple things we need to talk about."

I dragged Nate until I was certain we were out of earshot of the others, making sure that we kept moving forward, I didn't want any more unforeseen delays.

"Okay, I'm going to start with something simple. You know back at the… where we met Drake?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Well, the only reason that Onion knew to come save us was because of an emergency signal that I linked between my Pip-Boar and him. I wanna give you that same signal code to place on your Pip-Boar. Only difference is, instead of only letting Onion know, it will let each other know if something happened to one of us."

I sent the needed files over to Nate with the small adjustments I made. I didn't know his Pip-Boar's access number, so I let him make the proper adjustments. We tested it by removing each other's Pip-Boar's to make sure it worked.

"Miss! Everything okay!" Onion's message came through my Pip-Boar.

I looked back at Onion who, while a few hundred feet away, was still in visual range. I held up my Pip-Boar and then slapped it back onto my arm. He could see me, of course I was okay! I sighed. At least I knew it still worked with him too.

"Y-you said that w-was just the s-start? What e-else did you have to s-say?"

"You don't have to sound so worried. Why, what did you think I wanted to say?"

"T-that you… changed y-your mind about m-me, that y-you really didn't w-want to be with a f-fox."

"You… I would never do that. I don't care what species you are. You're too kind hearted to do anything to drive me away. I could tell that you were broken when I first met you," I grabbed his paw gently with my own, "and after hearing about your past, I now know how broken you really are. I don't want to just leave you like this. It's my nature to want to fix something that's broken."

"A-and if you c-can fix me? W-what then?"

I stopped and pulled his face down to my own. "Then, I will make sure you never break again." I gave him a nice long kiss.

We didn't say anything else as we continued paw in paw, we didn't have to. I could tell that those simple words had instilled a great confidence in him, one that I was unsure he even had before. I did have other things to tell him, to ask of him, but right now they weren't important. Right now I just want to hold onto this moment.

At least until Holly decides to ruin it. That's the last thing we need right now.

I take it back. I would rather have to deal with Holly's incessant teasing than this!

We had reached an area where two large buildings had fallen on top of each other. We were planning to go around when Mark noticed that one of the buildings was an old medical research facility. He had hoped that crawling through the debris might lead to an opening where he could try to scavenge some medical supplies. It was probably the worst idea he ever had.

We had not one, not two, but three giant eight legged abominations chasing us through the debris. A long time ago I kept running into spider webs and wanted to meet what ever made those annoyances, but now that I have, I just wanted to not die. They had spun a web connecting the two buildings and none of us ever noticed them. If it wasn't for Drake's unnaturally sharp claws, we would have become dinner for these… creatures.

"What I wouldn't give to have a Red-Neck here, these fuckers need to burn!"

"Oh no 'livi, the last thing we wanna add to this rag-tag group is one of those flame loving mad-mammals! We'd sooner get burned alive in the friendly 'fire' before we could even hurt the enemy!"

Our gunshots were slowing them down a little, but it wasn't enough. Even Drake was having issues. Every time he flew in close with his claws extended, one of the spiders shot a webbing at tangled his feet up. He was able to cut through it, but it was making it a hindrance to his ability to attack them. Then there was the acidic venom. I didn't even know spiders could spit venom!

"Holly! Toss me a grenade!"

"Are you crazy! These buildings are already unstable enough as it is, and you wanna throw explosives at them?"

"What, you have a better idea that doesn't involve being eaten or burned alive?"

"I… here take them!"

Holly tossed me two grenades. She was right to notice that the buildings around us were not very stable. When we were caught on the spider web and Drake cut us loose, I could hear the concrete and steel shifting as the webs snapped. A few well placed grenades could bring this entire thing down upon them, provided we can keep the spiders within its area. That was the hard part.

"Holly! Olivia! Over here!"

Mark had called out from a break in the wall of one of the buildings. It was a tight squeeze, but we were able to fit in as two of the spiders ran past us. Drake and Blanche were out there, someplace, trying to do whatever they could to make a dent in them. Unfortunately, it seemed that giant mutant spiders was on her list of 'nopes' when it comes to who she's willing to kill. Probably had to do something with spiders not having any necks.

"Okay, Onion is watching the perimeter, making sure we don't have any other surprises. Thankfully those creatures don't seem to pay much attention to him. All we need to do is find a way to keep them around here as I blow the buildings. Any ideas?"

"Okay first, do you really have to answer every situation with making something explode? And secondly… do you hear that?"

I must have been too busy to pick is up, but after Mark said something I was able to hear it as well. I saw Holly's ears perk up and move along with mine trying to figure out where it was coming from. It sounded like a bunch of tiny nails scraping on concrete. What the hell could it be? The room we were in was very dark, the only sign of light was where we just came through, but it wasn't much. I turned my Pip-Boar's light on and scanned the room, it sounded like it came from right… over… fuck.

There were thousands of them, possibly hundreds of thousands. We were not just in some kind of ruined room, we were smack dab in a nest. The noise we kept hearing was the sound of tiny spider feet crawling over everything, and that was just the ones that had hatched. There were countless eggs scattered all through the room. How the hell did…

I looked up just to see a spider larger than the three outside combined slowly drop from the ceiling, it's body dangling on a small strand of webbed silk. The 'legs' near its mouth twitched as I saw two very large fangs extend. When it finally set down on the ground, I saw all the thousands upon thousands of baby spiders start to climb onto it, covering it in a shield of its own young.

"We are fucked. We are more than fucked. We are… is there even anything more than being fucked?"

"Olivia, the grenades!"

"Oh yeah. Hey ugly! Fuck you!"

Before I even flipped the safety off of the grenade, Holly, Mark and Nate were already trying to leave through where we came from. I pressed the button and tossed it right at the giant spider. I ran and someone pulled me out. The other three spiders were nowhere to be seen, so we ran. We ran as fast as possible.

The explosion seemed quiet at first, until it's shock-wave rippled through the building that Mark had hoped had medical supplies. I heard what sounded like screaming come from the building. Shadows loomed overhead and at first I thought it was Drake, but then I saw that it was the spiders, they had completely ignored us as they ran towards the shrieking noise. They were probably going to save something that was already dead. Well, they'll be joining it soon. I tossed the other grenade right where they were.

The first explosion didn't knock down the buildings, but the second one did. As the explosion tore through the ground, it caused both of their foundations to collapse, bringing down the arc like shape to the ground, burying the three spiders. Once I was certain that there was no more imminent threats, I collapsed to the ground.

"You okay 'livi?"

"Do you have to ask Holly? I'm starving. What we got?"

"Let's see," Mark started to go through the supplies, "rations, rations, canned carrots, canned meat-like protein replacements…"

"We really need to go grocery shopping. Think there's a chance that we could find anything… fresher nearby?"

"Sure we can Olivia, I mean there are farms everywhere in the wasteland. Radiation is perfect for fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables."

"You sound like Holly. Just… just give me the canned carrots."

Mark tossed me the can and I opened it. Inside were overly soggy carrot bits suspended in what I hope was water. These military grade rations were horrible, even the two-hundred year old Hungry Maw stuff was better than this. I downed the carrots and swallowed them before I my tongue could register their foul taste. I noticed something imprinted on the bottom of the can, it was not legible, so I turned it over. It was an expiration date. It was…

"Mark! These fucking things have a six-hundred year shelf life! What the hell are you feeding us!"

"Food. Something you'll be glad we have when you're starving. It may not look, or taste good, but it's what's keeping us alive. If you want, you can go join Drake in his meal."

I looked over to where Drake and Blanche were. Blanche wasn't perched on the top of his head anymore, but I saw a small white ball pacing back and forth a distance away from him. I saw Drake eating something, but I don't remember Mark or Nate giving him anything… wait. One, two… oh that is just nasty.

Drake looked up towards us, a spider leg dangling out of his mouth. I think he was smiling as he slurped the leg into his maw and continued to eat. Those damn things had green blood, they also had highly acidic venom! How the hell was he… you know what, I don't wanna know. I guess deathwings are not picky eaters. Better that spider than another mammal I guess.

"Oh! I have it, I have it!"

"You have what Nate?"

"The signal, it's… now it's gone."

"Damn. Um… why you smiling Nate?"

"Because I know exactly where it is."

I jumped up and hugged Nate as he showed me. On his Pip-Boar's map there were two locations. One, marked in green, was the solid signal we've been following, but another one, marked in yellow, was the location of the unstable signal we had also been tracking. It was close. Finally a break!

"Okay everyone, let's eat up. If things go well, we may actually get to sleep in our own beds tonight!"

"In your own bed, or Nate's?"

"Remember Holly, I still have a loaded gun."

Thankfully the spiders were the only obstacle in our way. We had gotten close enough to see our destination, but not too close as to be reveled by anyone who may be there. This part of the city reminded me of where the theater was. It was filled with a bunch of low lying buildings, maybe six stories at the most. They were scattered along the road in no particular order, as if someone simply dropped each building and left them where they landed.

"Never been here."

"Great vote of confidence Blanche."

"She's right though 'livi, I don't think we've been here either. It doesn't look familiar. I think all the collapsed buildings and debris were a good deterrent for scavenging here."

"Sounds like a perfect place for a bunch of mercenaries to hide. I'm not picking anything up on sensors though, are you Onion?"

"No Miss."

"The signal dead ends at that building over there, the one that looks like some giant was playing a game of sticks with."

"Sticks?" I had no idea what Nate meant by that.

"Yeah, it's a children's game. You start off by building a large tower with equal sized rectangular sticks and each person takes turns pulling one out. Whoever makes it collapse looses."

"Well then, from the looks of the building, it's one or two sticks away from a losing game."

It definitely was an odd shaped building. It also stuck out from all the other ones who had more organic designs to them. I just had no idea if it was a trap. Only one way to find out.

"Nate, we are going on a little field trip."

"W-what?"

"We're the only ones with Stealth-Boars, right? That building is way out of range of our scanners, so we need to get closer, I need you to not only verify that that building is our location, but also to see if you can figure out where that other stable signal is in relation to it. Can you do that?"

"I… I… yes. Yes I can."

"Good. Okay you guys, I'll let Onion know if it's safe to come down. If you see any gun fire, you know it's not and to come down anyways." They all gave me an untrustworthy look. I simply smiled. "Trust me."

We only had thirty seconds of Stealth-Boar usage so we kept low and moved as stealthily as we could towards the building, using as many obstacles as possible to avoid potential detection. Once we got close enough, I signaled him to turn on his Stealth-Boar. Once we were fully cloaked, we made a mad dash to the building. We arrived at the wall facing our friends just as the invisibility wore off. I checked my sensors. Still nothing.

"What you got Nate?"

"This is definitely the place. The other signal isn't too far either, maybe a mile or two from what I can tell."

"Hmm. I have an idea." I sent the signal for the others to join us. I also made sure to have Onion keep his sensors open on their way down, just in case.

While I waited for the others, I kept my eyes on the sensor to make sure that there were no unexpected surprises. It remained clear the entire time. This made me nervous. There were no signs of defenses, no signs of Legionaries, or any mammals to be exact, but one of their signals lead here. Maybe this was one of the abandoned outposts Blanche talked about? If that's the case, maybe we can hack into it and get what we needed. Nate showed me something on his Pip-Boar. There was a problem with that plan.

"Okay, everyone here? Good. I got good news, and bad news. The good news is that it seems that this place is unoccupied."

"What's the bad new 'livi?"

"The bad news is that, well. I hate to say this. We need to… split up."

"WHAT!?" Mark, Holly, and Nate all yelled at once.

"Okay, okay, hear me out. I have two valid reasons for this. First, this place seemed abandoned, which is good. If my plan works out, then we can go in there, hack any computer system and take whatever information we need."

"Well, why can't we just do that 'livi? What's with all the splitting up?"

"That's the other point. Nate showed me something… disconcerting. The signal popped back up, and unlike before, it looks like it's here to stay. The problem with that is, from what it looks like, it's connected to the other signal. Meaning two things. Either they already know we're here and are sending a distress signal, or two, the systems are connected and hacking one will alert the other."

"Okay, I get that but why the need to split?" Holly was seeming a bit agitated now.

"If they're already sending mercenaries towards us, we need some to stay out here. The thing is, if they know we're inside, they may find back entrances that we don't know about. Now, the Legionaries know that we have a deathwing with us, and seeing that Drake is the only one who flies during the day, he's pretty easy to spot. So here's my plan. Nate, Mark, Holly, you stick with me. We're small enough to be able to move through the building without getting seen. Blanche, Drake, and Onion, I need you three to buy us time. Nate will upload the location of the other signal to Onion so you guys know where it is. If there are no visible Legionaries forces en-route to us, I just want you guys to scout the second location before meeting us back here."

"And if those ass-twats are coming for you?"

"Well then, I need you three to simply distract them and buy us time to get what we need here. If you guys need help, or if we do, Onion is synced between Nate and my Pip-Boar's so we can always be in contact with each other. Remember, Do not engage them directly. I want us all together when we do. If we find out this is a trap, we need you to be available to help us."

"I don't like the idea of us splitting up like this 'livi."

"Hey, I wanted to do this alone, remember? This is the best plan I can think of that doesn't involve a suicide or solo mission. Drake's air superiority will be a good distraction, and between the four of us, we should be able to take on anything they throw at us. Unless it's another giant spider. I never want to see one of them again."

"I… I'm glad that you are keeping us by your side. Not to say that I wouldn't want the others here either, but, I was afraid you were going to split the four of us up." Holly seemed relieved and saddened.

"I don't think I could do that if I tried. Not that I don't care about you three! It's just…"

"Don't be getting all emotional ass-twat. But I get it. I would have done the same thing. Plus I don't think Drake would have liked it in that small cramped building. Would you?"

"Drake. No. Like."

"See? Okay, grab the vegetable and let's go!"

"Vegetable? Miss, I object!"

"Go on Onion, you're our only source of communication between each other. You saved our lives once before, I'm sure you can do it again, if needed."

"I… yes Miss. Do be careful."

"Aren't I always?"

"That's… not very reassuring Miss."

Drake grabbed Onion in one claw and they flew off. "I made the right decision, didn't I?"

"Like I said, I hate splitting up, but of all your half-ass decisions I've seen you make 'livi, this is by far… the most sane one."

"Thanks Holly. I think. Okay, we all ready? Once we open the door, be prepared for anything."

Everyone nodded as we all held our weapons at the ready. We circled the side of the building towards what looked like the main entrance. I kept my eyes on the scanner, but it was still clear. The front of the building looked just like the game that Nate described, with the double door entrance placed as if four of the sticks had been removed to make room for it. The windows must have been glass at some point, but were now boarded up. A large chain and padlock was the only thing keeping the doors secured.

"Now, do I have anything to pick this lock with."

I rummaged through my bag, looking for those antenna parts I had been using as picks. I finally found one but as I was pulling it out, I heard the noise of metal hitting the concrete below our feet. I saw that the chain was now lying on the ground, with Holly standing next to me with a pair of large cutters.

"What? Where did that come from?"

"Hey, we made our living off of salvaging parts before we met you. This isn't the first chain locked door we ran across. Keep these with me for just such occasions."

"One of these days we really should sit down and do some kind of show and tell."

I slowly opened the door. It was dark inside. I checked my scanners, nothing yet. I took a few steps in, hoping that my new low-light vision would kick in. I didn't want to risk using my light unless I knew it was safe. As my eyes started to adapt, I saw that the inside was in relatively good shape. There were no collapsed walls or ceilings, no turret like bumps in the ceiling. I didn't see any sign of hostiles, so I took a few more steps in. A slow humming noise started to build. Oh fuck, did I set off a…

The entire room lit up. It happened so fast that it temporarily blinded me.

"You guys still here? I can't see a thing!"

"Yeah, we're still good, I think. It must have been some kind of automated light system."

"Welcome…" a voice came out from nowhere.

"Who the fuck said that?"

"… to… the…" it sounded slow, and not a voice that belonged to any mammal.

My eyes started to adjust as I saw the image of… a sloth… standing before us. "Who the fuck are you?"

"… first… and… foremost…"

I went to get the sloth's attention by grabbing his arm, but my paw went right through. It was a damn hologram!

"… premier… relaxation… facility… that…"

"A sloth… hologram? Who's crazy idea of a joke is that!" Holly didn't seem impressed.

"A working pre-war hologram? Oh, this is gold!" Nate, however, sounded like he had just won the lottery.

"… the… great… city… of…"

"Okay! Get to the chase already!" The sudden blinding light and holographic appearance had me on edge. I kept checking the scanner, but there were still no signs of anything.

"… Zootopia… can… offer. Please… breathe… in… our… relaxing… scented… atmosphere."

"Breath in? What?" I heard clicking noises as a bunch of small devices on metal arms dropped out of the ceiling. Oh fuck. "Everyone cover your…"

It was too late. The arms started to spray something in the room. I tried to cover my mouth, not knowing what it was, but the sweet smell of flowers told me that I was too late, although I felt… fine. I checked the medical monitoring system on my Pip-Boar. Everything checked out.

"Nate, are your biometric scanners picking up anything?"

"No. It says I'm healthy. What was that?"

"The hologram said this was a relaxation facility? I know that some flowers are supposed to induce a state of relaxation, but I don't feel any different." Mark was unsure of his own words, but went over us each to check for anything. "You're all clean. It was either rendered inert after two-hundred years of sitting there, or it simply was meant to make visitors smell good."

"Either way, this doesn't seem like Legionary material to me." It sounded like Holly wanted to leave.

"It's possible that they never used the front entrance, and found a back way in. If that's the case, it would explain why we haven't picked up any readings yet. I want to explore this place a bit further."

"Okay 'livi, but the moment we don't find anything, we are out of here. Got it?"

"Deal Holly. Okay, let's keep together… did you hear that?"

"What? I didn't hear anything."

"It sounded like…" There was nothing on the scanners. Was I imagining things?

We started to move past the hologram. I know it wasn't a real mammal, but I swear I could feel it watching us as we walked by it. The room was large. Two doors were on either side with a curved desk built into the wall in between. Tables and chairs of various sizes were lined neatly along the walls. From their sizes, it didn't look like this place catered to the larger mammals. I was trying to decide if we should go left, or right when I heard it again. It sounded faint, but it was a voice.

"Are you sure you didn't hear that?"

"Yeah, I got ears like you too, remember? I didn't hear anything."

"It's probably the stress. Okay let's… there it is again."

Everyone was looking at me with a worried visage, even Nate. I wasn't sure if I was going crazy, or if this fox DNA within me had somehow modified my hearing too. Maybe there was something in that scented spray after all.

"Are any of you experiencing… anything odd?"

"Besides listening to you 'livi, no we're… wait, I think I did hear something."

"So you did hear something Holly, it was coming from the left, right?"

"Actually no 'livi, it came from the right. But that's not possible."

"You guys stay here, keep an eye out for me, I wanna go make sure the scanner is clear up ahead. I'll use my Stealth-Boar to be safe."

I slowly moved towards the left door. I activated the invisibility and passed through the double swinging doors. The hallway was lit up but not nearly as bright. I saw nothing on my scanner, so I moved forward. The moment the invisibility drops, I'm hightailing it back to the rest of them.

"Olivia." The voice was faint.

"Who said that? Holly? Was that you?"

"Olivia." It was getting closer. It couldn't have been Holly, she was behind me, and this voice was coming from in front of me.

"Who… who's there?"

"Olivia."

That voice… why did it sound so…

"Olivia."

It was getting… no. It can't be. How is this possible?

"Olivia my child. Welcome home."

"Mom?"

—

Fallout: Zootopia After Show

Featuring:

'Stripes in the Morning'

[Stripes]

"Good morning Zootopian Wasteland! Stripes here bringing you Stripes in the Morning! On today's show, we have the hero herself, Olivia Springs! Good morning Miss Springs, how are you doing this fine day?"

[Olivia]

"It's raining, it's not a very fine day."

[Stripes]

"It is? Didn't even notice. Well then, I won't take too much of your time today. So, Miss Springs, tell us, how have you been holding up these past few weeks?"

[Olivia]

"Well, I've been nearly killed more times than I have fingers and toes, ran into mammals that either wanted to kill me, capture me, or do the same to my friends, and as you can see, had my face mutilated. How do you think I've been?"

[Stripes]

"Yes, that scar on the side of your face looks rather annoying. Tell me, why not have it removed? Sure a scar that's been around for years is much harder to get rid of, but that's fresh enough that even the Guardians should be able to erase it."

[Olivia]

"I've thought about it, but honestly? I think it makes me look a bit more bad-ass, or at least to my enemies. Plus, I keep forgetting about it, and since my friends never bring it up, I don't really think a little cosmetic surgery is worth the Guardians time and supplies. It's also a reminder, that I'm not un killable like some may think I am."

[Stripes]

"Yes. Mortality grips all of us. So, care to elaborate on the relationship between you and Mister Valiant?"

[Olivia]

"That's none of your business."

[Stripes]

"Actually, that's basically my business, to show the audience everything that they may have missed. Or things that have been left out."

[Olivia]

"Well, it's none of their business either. What goes on between me and my fox is just that, between us."

[Stripes]

"Well, they'll find out soon enough. So, what are your plans for when this whole thing is over and done with?"

[Olivia]

"Well, I wanna go back to Hope. They need me, even if some of them are afraid to say it. That place is falling apart, and you don't know how hard it is to not be able to do anything about it, but I can't put them in any more danger than they already are because of me."

[Stripes]

"I'm sure Mayor Swift is making headway in getting the people to accept you, or should I say your companions, back into the town. Even with the world crumbling around them, it's surprising how some mammals can cling to such backwards thinking. Guess you can change the world, but you can never change all of those within it."

[Olivia]

"You sure sound a bit less… you today. Are you sure you're the same pain in the ass zebra that keeps tormenting me and my friends?"

[Stripes]

"Assuredly. Let's just say that the next few episodes will contain a bit more of a sullen tone. But fear not, I will be there covering it all, and assuring you, the readers, that things will only get better. Until they get worse, but not nearly a worse as what is coming up."

[Olivia]

"Do I even what to know what you're going on about?"

[Stripes]

"No, no you don't. Well folks, looks like there's a radiation storm moving in, so I need to cut this interview short as to find proper shelter. I'm not about to let my stripes melt off. Well folks, this is where I would normally tell you that I will bring you all the truth no matter how hard it hurts, but let's face it, these next few chapters will do more than that. Stay tuned for a special After Show next Wednesday. Sunday's show will still be as planned, but next week, well, let's just say that Max and I are not looking forward to it, but the show must go on! So until next time, take care folks."