"So, are you saying that North… Nick… gah! I don't even know what to call him! That he could be my ancestor?"

"Yeah, I mean Doc has already said that one of the couples to go through the interspecies reproduction alteration was a fox and a rabbit. Nick and this Judy were lovers, as we found out a bit too vividly, and you have fox DNA. It's too much to be a simple coincidence."

Gah. Mark was right. It felt too much like a coincidence. The way he acted around me, the way he couldn't seem to part with coins that portrayed a fox and rabbit. Maybe he knew? Or at least that part of him knew? I wanted to run after him, to tell him I'm sorry for doing what I did. To sit with him and help work it out.

I can't. I really want to, but I can't. Chief Lazlo needed me. I finally have the ability to not only save him, but potentially the entire wasteland from whatever King's plans were, and I had a feeling they weren't good intentions. I had the badge, and I had the code. Once this was done, I'll find Nick and tell him. I'm sorry.

"Let's go."

"You okay 'livi?"

"No, but we have a job to do. I'll have to deal with it later."

"And we'll be there by your side Binky." Nate's tail wrapped around me as he hugged me, with his good arm.

"I know you will sweetie. Let's go before I change my mind."

We gathered our stuff and headed back to meet up with Jasmine and Zack who were waiting on us. I sent a message to Onion to let him know we were on our way. Thankfully, there hadn't been any activity this entire time. It seems that the Memory Den was the only actively run location here, and it filled such a small niche in terms of demand that not many mammals passed through this area.

It didn't help that I could tell a large fight had broken out here, and I didn't even have to ask the details. I knew. It seemed that Nate had noticed as well.

"I'm not proud of it." His voice almost showed a hint of shame, and I think it was directed at himself.

"Holly and Mark said that you, well, went berserk."

"Something in me snapped. When they took you, all I could see was red."

"I know all too well what you mean. Look, I'm not going to say that it was a stupid thing to do when I damn well know I would have done the same. I'm simply gonna ask you to do what I have been trying so very hard to do myself. Think. We both need to learn to think before acting. Otherwise, in trying to hurt our enemies, we may end up hurting our friends."

"And we'll be there to help you too, all the way." Holly moved next to me.

"It takes a family, and that's what we are." Mark moved next to his brother.

We all stopped to hug each other, but during it my ear started to twitch. I thought I heard something for a moment, but then it disappeared. I wasn't sure what it was, but it didn't sound like any noise I've heard a mammal make before, it almost sounded like…

"Look out!"

I pushed Nate and Mark back as I grabbed Holly, jumping backwards. A large spider landed right where we had been standing. It was one of the spiders from the nest! Somehow it had survived. I saw burn marks on its carapace, and jagged slices along it's back. One of the legs was missing as well.

It reared it's body up, about to attack, but before I could grab my gun, I heard a loud noise just seconds before the spider exploded, showering us with its blood and guts. My mouth had been open, ready to shout to the others, and it was now filled with spider mush. It was so very nasty.

"What the fuck was that?!" I scanned the horizon to see the shooter, both to identity whoever it was, and to make sure that we weren't in danger from another round.

"A high caliber explosive round from the looks of it." Holly was trying to wipe off the slimy entrails. "Ugh, it's in my fur. It's in my clothes!"

"It's in my mouth, blech. I don't see anyone, you think it was Jasmine?"

"Had to be. If they were trying to kill us, then why stop?"

"Let's get back to the Tac-Lifter post haste. Keep your eyes and ears open."

We slowly worked our way back to where Jasmine and Zack were waiting, keeping low and using any cover we could find to make sure who ever had killed the spider, wasn't trying to take aim at any of us. I'm sure it was Jasmine, but it was best to be safe. There were way too many mammals that wanted me dead.

When we finally got close enough, I saw the faint sign of Jasmine, laying prone with her gun extended. Zack was sitting at the controls of the aircraft, a scope aimed towards where we came from. As soon as he saw us, he dropped it and jumped out.

"You guys alright?"

"Yeah, thanks to Jasmine."

"What do you mean?" She sounded confused as Zack was helping her back up. Those long legs didn't seem to make it easy for her.

"For killing that spider."

"It wasn't me. We heard a gunshot and took position. I could see the aftermath of what ever happened, but Zack couldn't identify where the shot came from."

"So if it wasn't you, then who?"

"I waited for another shot to see where it came from, but none came. Whoever it was must have left or hid after the spider was dead."

"Not very comforting." That was the second time a mysterious gunshot saved us.

"Perhaps we have a guardian angel in our midst?" Leave it to Mark to make this sound religious.

"Or whoever it was is a terrible shot and only had one bullet?"

"You don't have to be so cynical Olivia."

"It's what I do Mark, it's what I do. Anyways, since there's no obvious danger, let's get back to the hospital. I'm sure Logan will be excited to hear we have the code."

"Stalker Logan doesn't do excited." Zack said that very seriously.

"Yeah, just like I don't do sane." I was joking of course, but everyone gave me a worried look. "Don't worry, I don't have anything crazy planned yet." But the day wasn't over.

Once the Tac-Lifter was in the air, everyone kept their eyes open on the ground. Somewhere out there was the mysterious assailant that has not once, but twice saved us from danger. The only thing I wanted to know was if they were our friend, or if they simply didn't want us, or me, to die. The Legionaries wanted me alive, I knew that, but if it was them, then why haven't they shown themselves?

Unfortunately that will have to wait. We have bigger fish to fry.

We arrived back at the temporary base, and while it was still daytime, it was getting very close to dusk. Zack had radioed ahead to let Logan know we were on our way back, so he was there awaiting our arrival. There were Tac-Lifters lined up in a formation, along with at least two dozen various Guardians, all ready to move out at Logan's command.

"Looks like you're ready for war."

"It may just as well come to that. We don't know what danger Chief Lazlo is in, nor have we heard back from our patrols scouting the base. We must be prepared to not only fend off whatever threat lies within Precinct One, but also the chance that King and his traitors may already be on their way to capture or kill Chief Lazlo. He knows his return is a threat to him, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's already trying to prevent that."

"I got the code, and the badge. Ready to head out when you are."

"That won't be necessary Miss Springs. Despite the Chief offering you and your friends membership within the Guardian ranks, you are not, and this is a Guardian mission."

"No." I stomped my foot down as I said it. I saw a few of the Guardians move uneasily. Logan stood unwavering.

"Excuse me?"

"I said, no. I will not be sitting this one out. I may not be a Guardian, but Lazlo is a friend, and I don't leave friends in danger. I might have lost a friend trying to get this damn code, and I sure as hell am not going to risk losing another." I walked over to the aircraft that we had just arrived in, jumped inside and sat down. "I'll do this on my own if I have to."

Holly looked at Logan with a smirk. "She will too, and I doubt you want that crazy bunny trying to fly one of your Tac-Lifters."

Holly, Mark, and Nate all joined me in the craft. I could tell that Onion was a bit hesitant at what I was trying to do, but then gave up and joined us as well.

"Jasmine, you with me?"

"Um…" Her eyes darted between Logan and me. Logan's expression was still hard.

"C'mon Jay Jay, I'm responsible for this bird, and I'm not about to let one of them crash it." Zack moved towards the Tac-Lifter, and then Jasmine followed suit. I heard her say 'sorry' very quietly, most likely directed at Logan.

We waited, and I could tell that this entire thing was causing an ever growing uneasiness among the Guardians. Eventually I heard a very audible sigh from Logan.

"Okay Guardians, load up. We move out in ten."

"I can't believe you did that." Zack's voice was of both amazement and disbelief. "Any other mammal would have gotten thrown into the brig for that."

"Can't help that they're all scared of me."

"It isn't that Olivia. Sure, some are, but Logan isn't afraid of anything, or anyone."

"Then why buckle like that?"

"Respect."

"Huh?"

"He respects you I think. You single-pawedly saved him once, and the fact that you are willing to risk your own life to do it again makes him believe you really do care."

"Wouldn't any of the others do it too? I mean, if they didn't care for Lazlo, they would be with King, not here."

"True, they all respect the Chief, but to be honest, I don't think a single one of them other than Stalker Logan would be willing to attempt a rescue by themselves unless they were forced to."

"Well, no one is forcing me."

"Exactly. That's why he respects you."

I watched as Logan was shouting orders to the Guardians as they ran around performing what tasks were needed before we could leave. At one point he looked towards me, still with the same hardened look on his face, but rather than saying anything, he simply nodded at me before resuming his tasks.

Respect. That is one word that I never thought anyone would have associated me with. Fear, hatred, hope, thankfulness, and even love. Those are emotions that I have seen from many mammal. To be respected? That was new. I never once thought that so many different mammals would show me such a rainbow of emotions. I simply wanted to help, and never expect anything in return.

"Oh! Don't leave yet, I forgot something!"

Holly jumped up and darted out of the Tac-Lifter. Before I could ask what was wrong, she was well out of my shouting range. Not that she would have been able to hear with the echoing of Logan's voice. That was one loud wolf.

She was only gone for a few minutes, but by the time she returned, everyone was in position to leave. She was carrying a small bag. She jumped in and squeezed herself between Mark and I and tossed the bag onto my lap. It landed with a very heavy feeling, and nearly caused me to expel my lungs.

"What is this?"

"A gift. Open it." She sounded very excited, pronounced with the way she was jumping in her seat. Mark had to place his arm around her to get her to calm down.

I opened the bag and inside was a darkened metal object. I slowly pulled it out. It was a gun stock. I looked at Holly, but she simply gestured me to continue. There was one more item in the bag and I slowly pulled it out. One look at it and I knew exactly what it was.

"Is this a…"

"Plasma rifle!" She shouted it out as if she was holding it back for a long time. "I was able to modify it to fit a rabbit. Stock is removable for transport and quick close range attacks. I actually have…" She pulled her own backpack out and grabbed something from it. "…this. It's a focusing array. You can swap out the current barrel for this if needed. I didn't have room in that bag for it."

"Focusing array?"

"Yeah. The current attachment is actually a multi-faceted splitter array. It allows the plasma gun to fire multiple short range projectiles, like a shot gun. The focusing array, along with the stock attachment, turns it into basically a mid-range sniper rifle. Not as accurate as a real one, but does the trick. It's easy to swap, here let me show you."

She took the gun from me and showed me a small lever and a button. Pushing them at the same time made a click noise and the barrel dropped off. She took the focusing array and snapped it on. Then she attached the stock and showed me that it disconnected in the same way.

"Thank you Holly."

"Don't thank me 'livi, it was Nate's idea. Think he still feels bad for ruining your last one."

"Yeah. Plus those things eat through armor like no tomorrow. Figured it'd be handy just in case we do run into King's men."

I gave Nate a kiss. "Thank you sweetie."

"Hey Zack, you think anyone would mind if 'livi takes a few pot shots from up here? Just to get used to it."

"Well, this is designed for air to ground arms fire. Let me just radio it in so the other's don't think we're under attack."

"Okay 'livi, just aim and fire."

"I know how to pull a trigger. I'm not that incompetent."

I switched with Nate since he was closest to the open door and leaned out. I felt his arm grabbing me, probably afraid I would fall out. I didn't aim at anything in particular, rather made sure no one was within targeting sight. I pulled the trigger and a bright green bolt shot through the air. The gun had a small kick, but the stock helped absorb it. I moved to swap the barrels out when Holly stopped me.

"I wouldn't try the splitter in here. Accuracy is shit with it, and those plasma bolts have a mind of their own. Last thing we need is to shoot down our own ride."

"Thanks for the warning Holly. Range seems nice, but it's hard to really target anything."

"Oh, yeah I didn't remember to find a scope. Sorry."

Scope? Wait a second. I handed the gun to Nate to hold as I grabbed my bag. I had been using this as a scouting tool, and never actually thought about actually using it as what it was meant for. There was an attachment point for a scope along the top and I tried to slide it in, but it was too large and wouldn't lock down.

"Here."

Nate grabbed the scope and handed me back the gun. He took out his own tools and made some adjustments on the scope before handing it back to me.

I tried to place it back on and it snapped into place.

"Thank you. Why didn't I think of that?"

"Because you're acting like Holly and too busy drooling over a new toy?"

I punched his shoulder, forgetting that I was on the side of his metal arm.

"Ow!"

Nate grabbed my paw and kissed it. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just not used to that arm."

"You and me both."

"Oh looky. Nate is trying to heal 'livi's boo-boo with kisses. If that works, you might be out of a job Marki."

"Well if all it took to heal a broken limb and internal bleeding was a kiss, then I would happy to be out of a job."

"As long as they weren't your kisses. They belong to me." I could tell Holly was mocking jealousy.

"Aww, did that hurt your feelings? Let me make it better."

I made kissing noises as I leaned towards Holly. What I didn't expect was Mark taking that exact moment to reach for something in a way that my lips happened to make contact with his. We both shot back, trying to act as if nothing happened.

Holly noticed of course, as she grabbed Mark close to her. "My fox. My. Fox."

"Eh, Nate's a better kisser anyways."

"Buh… you take that back!" I think Holly was only half pretending to be mad.

We continued to joke around like that, Holly and I embarrassing the hell out of Mark and Nate by comparing each other's boyfriends. We tried to get Jasmine in on this, but it looked like she was already getting embarrassed by our talking, let alone trying to talk about her and Zack. Holly might be a vicious teaser, but at least she knew when to draw the line.

It felt nice to joke around like this. Sure, there was still the matter of needing to find North and apologize, and we have this unknown problem to deal with with rescuing Lazlo, but at times like this, a little frivolity isn't necessarily a bad thing. To be honest, it wasn't the actual joking that made me feel better, it was the fact that I was actually in a mood to do so.

The entire time that Nate was unconscious, I felt my own happiness leaving me, being replaced by an eternal darkness of anger and sadness. Being like that, especially how I keep finding myself back there, is so draining that sometimes I wondered if I would forget what happiness felt like. Being here, with my friends and family, despite heading into the unknown, this reminded me again what happiness really was.

I wasn't about to let anything take it away from me ever again.

Logan had ordered all the Tac-Lifters to land about half a mile away from the Precinct. It was starting to get dark, so I figured he'd want us to move out under the cover of darkness. Hope wasn't too far from here, but there were still enough buildings and debris to prevent any direct line of sight, plus I think we were facing away from Hope's entrance, but I wasn't sure. While the thought of checking in on them, and seeing if North was there, crossed my mind, I knew that it wasn't the best time to do it. Maybe on the way back.

"Okay people, let's get situated." Logan's arrival made everyone quiet and alert. "We'll be dividing up into teams. Since Miss Springs has the access code and key, she'll be in Alpha Team. This will consist of the Valiants, Miss Kerrigan, Stalkers Grant, Rothschild, Wilder, and Strauss. Defenders Hornly, Buskby, and Tuskgen will be joining them as well."

I whispered to Zack. "Tuskgen? I didn't know she knew how to fight."

"No, it's her brother, Alphonse Tuskgen. They're not on speaking terms right now, so I would avoid bringing her name up."

"Oh, duly noted." Then it hit me. "Um, I don't actually know her full name."

"Edna. She doesn't really care for it, that's why we all call her Tuskgen. Her brother calls her 'Ed' just to annoy her. Unless you want her to start throwing tools and other heavy machinery at you, I'd avoid calling her that as well."

"Got it."

Logan finished assigning the other teams and sent them to where they needed to be. My team, Alpha team, was going in first. Two more teams were on standby if we needed assistance, while the others were keeping an eye on the perimeter to prevent anyone from dropping in on us unexpectedly.

The way to the Precinct was pretty straight forward, but we took the long way to avoid any detection, or traps, of which we found a few. Someone had set up a minefield around the main entrance. Both Jasmine's helmet and the Defenders' were able to detect them before we were close enough to cause any detonations.

Logan informed us that the Agents had already cleared a path in their attempt to assess the situation and we followed behind the Defenders as they led us through that path. It brought us uncomfortably close to a few mines, but never close enough to make them start beeping. Zack assured me that a Defender's Exo-Armor was also built to withstand a direct mine explosion, so that's why they were acting as a shield, just in case. That made me feel better, but only slightly.

Once we were clear of the minefield, all that was left was to traverse the tunnel leading to the entrance. I was told it would be straight forward, but suddenly one of the Defenders told us to stop.

"Sensors show the defense turrets are active."

"The Agents assured me they were disabled." Logan was sounding more irritated than anything.

"Seems someone reactivated them."

"Okay people, we need to try to find another way."

"Not necessarily." I put down the plasma rifle and dug out and assembled my remote gun. I went to find some ammo, but then remembered that I haven't had the time to craft any more. Fuck.

"Here."

Nate handed me four remote bullets. "I was able to make them while I was healing. Plus Tuskgen suggested that I do something mindless to make sure the paw was responding correctly."

"Thank you sweetie." I gave him a kiss, and a small grunt came from Logan that I interpreted as: 'this is not the time'.

I loaded a bullet and asked the Defender where the turrets were. He said there were two and pointed them out. My eyes adjusted enough to see the unmistakable concave fixture that it seems nearly every turret had. To me it seemed like a large sign just saying: 'Hey! Dangerous gun over here!'. I took aim and fired.

Since I could only connect to one bullet at a time, started the process of disarming the first one, although I took it one step further. Rather than completely disable them, I synced up my friend-or-foe system to theirs, uploading the proper tags. Lazlo once told me that all Guardians had a tag that identified them. Unfortunately, while I was making sure it worked, I realized one small flaw. While a Pip-Boar can act as a tag, neither Mark nor Holly had one. During the test, they both came up red. Then I had an idea.

I was able to only need one bullet to hack into both turrets since their targeting system was linked, so that left me with three. I took two of them and worked my magic. While I could only hack through one at a time, I was able to link one to my Pip-Boar and one to Nate's. I grabbed his arm.

"Um, Nate, where's your Pip-Boar?"

"Oh, here." A panel popped open revealing the screen.

"That is so cool."

Without hesitating, I started to punch in data to his and linked it to the other bullet. While I wasn't sure if he knew what I was doing, he didn't seem to mind me suddenly confiscating his device. Once I was finished I tossed one bullet to Mark and the other to Holly.

"Keep those and don't lose them. When we enter and exit past those turrets, keep close to Nate and I."

"What did you do?" I think Holly was on to me.

"Well, rather than deactivate the turrets, I switched their Identify-friend-or-foe data. Now, they'll see all of us as friends, and anyone else as foes. Unfortunately, you two are the only ones who don't have tags that registered with it, so these will basically mimic our own as long as you are close enough to us."

"Okay, so lose these and the guns will shoot us. You could have just said that 'livi."

I looked at Logan and he simply nodded in approval. With these turrets out of the way, we were able to sneak into the outer area of the facility. Logan told us that the locked door was deeper in the Precinct, just below the basement level. There were no signs of aggressors along the way, but we did see the bodies of dead raiders scattered throughout the rooms.

"These the ones who tried to take this place?"

"Most likely. Until recently no one's been able to gain access to the vault beneath."

"But how did they do it this time?"

"That's what Lazlo went to find out. His plan was to clear any raiders out and take this place back. The vault contains enough pre-war equipment to arm ten times our forces for decades to come."

"That's a lot of guns."

"Not just guns, but prototype Exo-Armor, food, medicine, even blueprints for technology lost centuries ago. Tuskgen thinks that there might even be a prototype R.A.D. in there." For the first time, it sounded like Logan was cracking through his hardened visage.

"RAD? Like Rad! Cola?"

"No, Restorative Agriculture Device. Only one prototype was made, and it was never tested. From what we know, it was designed to siphon radiation from water to make it safe to drink, and from soil to allow for plants to grow once again. The radiation was in turn filtered into a potential fertilizer."

"That sounds amazing. If it could do this, then why is this world still crap?"

"It was never put into production. In order to fully test it, a large amount of radiation was needed to pollute both water and air, and no government would allow for this, for fear it wouldn't work and the contamination would spread. The project was going to be scrapped, but the prototype was kept, supposedly by the founder of the Guardians, Chief Bogo himself."

"If that's true, then there's no shortage of radiation to test it on."

"And if it proves successful, Engineer Tuskgen says she should be able to reverse engineer it and put it into mass production, but we need to get it first."

I heard a disapproving noise from behind me. Most likely Defender Tuskgen. I don't know why, but part of me wants to have a little talk with her to find out what's going on between them, but the other part of me is reminding me that it's really none of my business. For once I wish the voices in my head would come to agreement.

"You look lost 'livi."

"I'm fine, just having an argument with the voices in my head again."

"Should we be worried?"

"Naw. It's about a frivolous matter. Once they smell blood, then you better start worrying."

"Not very helpful. Keep an eye on your girl Nate."

"An eye, a tail, whatever it takes to keep her safe."

"Just not your arm. I don't want another black eye to match this one."

"Sorry." He sounded like a sad child the way he said it.

"I'm only kidding. Seriously though, that hurt."

I gave him a kiss before he could comment.

"If we're done fraternizing, we have a job to do." Logan cleared his voice before speaking.

"Don't get your panties in a twist Logan, we're moving."

I heard a collective gasp, but there was no reaction from Logan. Makes me wonder if there was just a slight bit of fear mixed in that respect of his for me. I don't know why but I was feeling very good today. Sure, I was probably about to walk into some kind of trap, and risk life and limb to save Lazlo, possibly even add a few more scars to my collection, but I was feeling better than I had been in a while. Let's just hope that nothing happens to change that.

Knowing my luck, it'll be right behind this door.

The door in question that we had just reached was the same door that I had to go memory diving in order to open. We had expected to rendezvous with Agent Tass and her team, but what we saw caused us to all stop. I had to open my mouth, didn't I? There was no team, but we did find Agent Tass. She was right here. And over there.

"What happened?" Holly's voice was filled with disbelief.

Mark leaned over her body, the upper half at least. I could tell he was in medical mode, despite the fact that she was long gone. "Centralized explosion. Most likely a grenade launcher or explosive round." He waved his paw over her eyes, closing them.

"Stalker Grant and Strauss. Gather Agent Tass and prepare her body for transport. Once we return, we'll give her the send-off she deserves." His voice lowered in tone. "She was a good mammal. Didn't deserve this."

I didn't know her, but I was starting to feel my anger build. I had to keep it under control, at least until I could find something, or someone, who deserves it.

"Who did this?" That was all I could muster for the time being.

"The raider corpses outside were old, but this was recent, within the past few hours." I envied Mark at times. Being surrounded by death and still able to keep his composure like this. I'm sure he's hurting deep down, but it takes real strength to not show it when others are counting on you.

"I'll have Bravo Team sweep the area, make sure whoever did this isn't still around. We still have a job to do."

Yeah, a job. I know Logan wasn't heartless, but sometimes it's hard to not see him any other way. I think Lazlo was right in making him second in command, but I wonder if some of the others resent the fact that he never shows any real emotions. To be strict and forceful is one thing, but a leader needs to show a bit of compassion, or else they just seem cold. I'll have to bring that up with Lazlo when this is all over.

A shove from Holly reminded me that I needed to focus on getting this door open. I moved in front of it, trying to ignore the blood splatter. Finding the small indentation, I pushed the button to make sure that the system was still working. Flashing lights and a message asking to enter identification told me it was working. I took the badge out of my pocket and gently pressed it into the indentation. It fit perfectly.

"Officer Nicholas P. Wilde, Identity Confirmed. Please Enter Pass-Code."

A small window appeared and a keyboard slid out. I typed it out slow, making sure I didn't mess it up. We only had one chance.

0-N-L-Y-1-C-A-R-R-0-T

"User Identified. Pass-Code Accepted. Welcome Officer Wilde."

The door started to make a humming noise, similar to when a Burrow door started to open. This door was large enough for even Jasmine to walk through, but it still wasn't as massive as one of them. Once it slid open, my nose was welcomed by a stench so bad that I almost threw up.

The others could smell it as well. It was the smell of death. Inside lights started to flicker on. They were dim, but bright enough to let us see everything inside, and what we saw looked straight from a nightmare. Bodies were everywhere. Some lay where they died, others looked as if they were tossed like dolls against the walls. And all of them wore the same jumpsuits.

They were all Guardians.

Fallout: Zootopia After Show

Featuring:

'Stripes in the Morning'

[Stripes]

"Good morning Zootopian Wasteland! This is Stripes with Stripes in the Morning! Today's episode will be a partial continuation of the last chapter. Not Mr. Wilde as we can finally call him. He's still trying to recover after his ordeal. No, this is about Memory Lane, the place that finally revealed everything to you all about his hidden past. Now, I was planning on actually going there, maybe try it out for myself, and even get a certain silver fox to jump in with me, but Max has shown a bit of… hesitation towards it. So much that Celeste has threatened… ahem… bodily harm on a certain equine if he is dragged there against his will, so I will be simply giving you a history lesson today. Maybe one day we can stop by there with someone a bit more willing to try it out.

"Now, Memory Lane is an interesting place. The technology behind it was pre-war, and like many of the technological wonders of the world it was borne from war. Mammals know that soldiers fight, and soldiers die. It's a sad matter of fact, but even those who live end up suffering for months, years, or even the rest of their lives. Technology came far in helping mammals recover after the war. Cybernetic prosthesis helped them walk, run, and act normal again after loosing limbs, but mentally, there was very little to help. I'm talking about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This is, simply put, a mental health problem that affects people differently, but one of the largest after effects from a war. PTSD was already a problem in the past, and even the ZPD has faced issues with it among their officers, but this war? It's impact was far greater than anyone could ever imagine.

"Wars typically have two sides, the aggressors and the defenders. Yes, this is a gross under-statement, but it is a simple one. However, that was not the case this time. Yes, there are some today that know who the real enemy was, and yes, you will discover this yourself later on, but that is a can of worms to be opened another day. What you do know, however, is that the real enemy was lurking in the shadows. Some thought it was predator against prey, others thought it was species against species, and even others thought it was country against country, religion against religion. No one knew the real enemy, but everyone thought they knew, and nearly everyone was wrong.

"That is the problem with the new cases of PTSD that were popping up. It's one thing to see someone die in combat, or to kill someone with your own paws, but to not even know if they were the enemy? To not know if you are the good guy or the bad guy in this war? That took its toll on mammals harder than doctors and psychiatrists could have ever imagined. Typical treatments weren't nearly as effective. Sure, new drugs were being created, existing ones enhanced, and non-drug treatments were being used, but it wasn't helping nearly as much with this already incurable disease.

"That's when Happy Times Inc, or rather a sister company called Dreams Unlimited, that had branched off to start their own research, decided to step in. We all know about that incident at the relaxation facility prior to that chapter that shall not be named, but Happy Times Inc had their paws in the medical field as well, helping to create drugs that would relax anyone suffering from PTSD. The problem with drugs is that they are temporary, they just get mammals minds off of what is really bothering them.

"When Dreams Unlimited decided to help, they took another approach. They had already been working on a way to record dreams, something that I often wish I could get my hooves on, when they proposed this. What if rather than recording a dream, they could have someone interact with it, to allow the dreamer a better look into their own memories? That is exactly what they set out to do, and as you all saw, is what they succeeded in doing.

"It was such a success, that they ended up kicking out their own sister company as the official government contractor for post wartime healing. And it worked better than the creators ever thought. By having not only psychiatrists able to directly analyze memories, even repressed ones, it allowed friends and family to see and experience what they are going through. It also helped to prove that mammals effected by PTSD were genuinely ill, and not faking it as some mammals thought. While it was not a one-hundred percent success rate, most mammals who underwent it felt better after some time.

"Of course with every success comes a failure, or in this case, a side effect of success. Before the war escalated into the destruction of civilization as they knew it, Dreams Unlimited had Dream Stations installed all over the country. Such a huge increase in accessibility started to cause problems, especially among those who were not undergoing PTSD treatments.

"Many mammals started visiting these places under false pretenses in order to relive better days, or to see what went wrong during bad ones. Many facilities saw an influx in mammals who had been dumped by their significant other and they tried to relive their mistakes in order to learn from them. Let's just say reliving a mistake does not make you a master at fixing it. It got so bad that prescriptions were needed to use the facilities, although that did not stop 'ghost' locations from opening. These locations were basically black market memory dens that use pilfered tech. Some of them were run by ex-Dreams Unlimited employees who managed to steal or re-purpose the tech making it just as safe as a legit facility, but others tried to copy the tech, and that came with problems such as causing brain damage, inducing unwakeable comas, and even forms of psychosis.

"The worst part of it was when it started to fall into the wrong paws. Mammals would use it to force truths out of others. Prey who thought predators were responsible would capture and force them to reveal secrets they didn't know. Other countries would do the same, trying to find military secrets. Yes, this was still fairly small scale since most of the knock-off facilities were nowhere near as advanced as the official ones, but given time, even these sub-par technologies would improve. This never happened of course since the world ended and the need for such technologies fell into the history books.

"Until about a decade or so afterwards when an intact facility, the one that is now managed by Doctor Fink and his assistant Task, was discovered and re-purposed into Memory Lane. The problem was, some of the files had been corrupted. It is unknown what type of environment was utilized within the dream world, but the scene of a row of houses? That was instilled by the mammal who discovered the facility while he was trying to fix the hashed data. I think it works personally, makes it feel more… friendly. At least until doors start flying off the hinges like it started to when Nick's memories awoke all at once. Something like that is not supposed to happen, but then again, most patients never have nearly two centuries of repressed memories to suddenly remember.

"Well, that's it for today folks. Remember, Memory Lane is always open and you don't even need a prescription. Doctor Fink does, however, hold his work in high esteem so only lets those who can benefit from the facility use it. He seems a bit… picky about that, but it never hurts to ask! So, until next time folks, take care!"