Author's Note:

Thanks for everyone's comments. Special thanks to my friend Salty_Kitsune for helping out with the editing.

Here is the next installment,

Enjoy!

8:41 AM

"You hateful little furball!" Elena shouted, banging her paws against the wall. "What is going through that spiteful space between your ears you call a mind?"

Reggie watched his bunny with amusement. Not that the situation was funny. The naked doe ranting to the wall, however... She had thrown clothes, pillows, blankets and insults non-stop since she had seen the photo on the TV news broadcast, to the point of having to pick up stuff to throw again.

"I think she gets you're mad," he said. She glared back.

"This is totally unacceptable," she said, furiously. "That sorry excuse of a rabbit has threatened the entire burrow with this... this... stunt!" She pounded on the wall again. "For scat knows what reason, you scrawny little twa—!"

Reggie scooped her up in his arms, holding her close while nuzzling her ears. "Just let it be," he coaxed. "I'm sure your mom and dad will deal with her. There's nothing you can you can do but scream yourself hoarse."

"Why would she do something like this?" She mumbled into his chest. "She's never done anything like this before."

"She must have some reason," he reckoned, stroking her ears. "Maybe she didn't even do it." He nuzzled her ears. "Wouldn't that be embarrassing after all that ranting?"

Elena giggled slightly. "I guess," she admitted. "But I know she did…" Reggie kissed her.

"We'll just let your parents deal with it," he told her. "We have other things to worry about."

Elena thought back on the evening's discoveries, her own role in them, and shuddered. "What are we going to do, Reggie?" she said, worriedly. "That bomb is out there. How are we supposed to get it back?" He chuckled.

"We'll handle it," he declared. "Jack and Skye are very good at this stuff. We just have to help with what we can." His face lit up. "I have an idea." He looked into her eyes, smiling. "Why don't you come work with me?" Elena flinched a bit.

"Me?" she said. "A spy?"

"Well, I was thinking more as a lab geek," he mused. "You know, give that smart head of yours a chance to work on important stuff." He nuzzled her. "Us nerds have to stick together, you know."

"Not just serve coffee and type reports?" she asked, skeptically. "Real Engineering?"

"Best believe it, bunny," he assured her. "No way would I let that mind of yours go to waste." Elena's eyes sparkled in the sunlight flooding the room.

"Oh, Reggie!" she said, forgetting everything but the fox holding her. "Come to yoah bunny!"

8:45 AM

Margaret finished packing her single bag, sniffling. She didn't really have much she wanted to take with her. She had few clothes, preferring to wear the same tried and true outfits, and not many of those at that. She did, of course, pack her most valued possession: The prized blue sash and Miss Bunnyburrow Harvest medal from three years ago when Elena had broken her arm, all on her own, and couldn't compete.

It was time to leave the nest, anyway, the doe thought. Her family was becoming more perverted as the years went by, not as a passing fad, either, or as an exception for that weirdo, Judy. No. Nowadays, her parents went as far as actively encouraging her siblings to find happiness with whatever species tickled their fancy. She laughed bitterly. Jemina was seeing a bear and Jethro, well, Jethro was sleeping with a porcupine of all things!

She shook her head. She didn't believe for one moment that slut, Skye, could be one of the good mammals. Any mammal who would accuse an adorable buck of breeding some disgusting, cross species mutt couldn't be good. Especially her buck, that adorable Jack, obviously a refined mammal of impeccable taste, who would never be such a deviant as to knock up some kinky vixen. No. The news had obviously been wrong about that. Skye was dirty. She was filthy. Unclean.

Margaret looked around the room one last time, with just a hint of trepidation. There was no going back now. Her family was no longer respectable, and the only way for her to look at herself in the mirror was to renounce them. She would miss some of her siblings, but that's what phones were for.

"OH, MY SWEET FOX! YOU GOT IT, BEBY! RAHT THEAH...RAHT THEAH...YOAH BUNNY IS COMING HOME... SHE'S CO...MMMMNNN...NGGHHHH...Hmmm... nnmmmg…hoh...hmmmm...OH, MAH GOODNESS! OH, MAH GOODNESS! THAT THING ALWAYS SUPRAHSES ME...OH, MAH GOODNESS! NNMMMNGGH...NNNNNGHHMM... Reggie, you darlin little fox, you…"

Margaret stared at the vent. "Ughhh!" She exclaimed, furiously, then left the room, slamming the door shut behind her and heading for the garage. She ignored the stares and muttered comments, endured the insults and hostility from her relatives, finally making it to her car, throwing her bag in the passenger seat, and driving off. As she was losing sight of the burrow in the rearview mirror, she saw her father running after her, then give up and… and… spit on the ground? Ughhh! Good riddance!

Luckily the gates opened automatically whenever a family car approached because the doe was paying no attention to anything at all but the perceived slights her family had inflicted upon her. She nearly ran over a reporter, who jumped hastily out the way as she zoomed past him onto the main road, heading away from town.

9:10 AM

Breakfast was subdued in the kitchens, to say the least. Even The Kerfuffle sensed the general mood and ate their food quietly, looking around anxiously at the adults, wondering what was wrong. Stu gruffly made his way to the head table, taking his place next to Bonnie. He was having a hard time looking at Skye and Judy, sitting next to their mates further down the table. Kataiahs, with Trina next to him, looked sympathetically at the flustered buck.

"You do know you cannot take responsibility for the actions of everyone in the burrow, right, Stu?" he told the patriarch. The rabbit sighed heavily.

"I would like to believe I can handle my own offspring," he said, simmering.

"Well," the lynx said, encouragingly, "one troubled kit out of two hundred seventy six is a pretty remarkable achievement by anyone's reckoning."

"She just drove off," Stu complained, ignoring the compliment, gesturing with his paws. "Didn't even look back." Bonnie was staring down at her plate, not touching her food. Stu looked guiltily at his mate. "You need to eat, Hon," he pleaded. "This isn't the end of the world. Margaret will be fine"

Elena and Reggie came in last, taking seat at the head table because of Reggie being a guest. Elena was on the warpath, looking around and staring at Margaret's empty place.

"Where is that little troublemaker?" she asked no one in particular. Bonnie sniffled. "What's the matter, Mama?"

"Margaret left," Stu told her, wrapping an arm around his wife.

"Why that little-" Elena started, then stopped when Bonnie sobbed. "Momma, Margaret's always been like this. You know it." Elena's voice had toned down, but wasn't yielding in any way. "She's always been mean to me, but this time…" Reggie stroked her shoulders, trying to calm her down.

Judy looked at her plate, wishing she could speak her peace like Elena, but she knew her mom would take it hard. Bonnie had tried so hard to reach Margaret over the years, and probably felt like a complete failure right now, irrational as that may be.

"Margaret's an adult, Mom," Nick said, softly. "She's made decisions, for whatever reason, to do what she's done. We need to respect her choices, even if we don't agree with them. After things cool down a bit, I'm sure we can all sit down and work things out." Stu obviously didn't agree, but understood what his son-in-law was doing, so kept quiet. Bonnie, hiccuped, looking at Nick.

"You're right, Nicholas," she said, wiping her nose. "She is a grown bunny. We'll just wait until she cools off and comes home. I'm sure we can get to the bottom of this. Everyone, go on. Eat your breakfast."

9:16 AM

"You really should talk to us, Ms. Packland," the slowly pacing ZBI panther said, persuasively, to the stoically silent wolfess sitting cuffed to the interview table. "You're ZIA. You know what happens if we turn you over to them. They really don't like turncoats."

The second agent in the room, a female badger, smiled sympathetically from her chair across the wolfess. "We can't help you if you don't talk to us," she said, sweetly. "I don't know how long I can keep the ZIA out of here without something to show for our effort." Patricia Packland simply stared ahead, eyes impassively on the wall.

"We picked up your entire net," the panther went on, now behind her. "Even Councillor Malery." Patricia's eye twitched almost imperceptibly. "Perhaps you know this fellow," he went on, tossing a picture onto the table of what had been a handsome coyote, but was now a dead body laying on a stainless steel table with a bullet hole in his forehead. The wolfess involuntarily glanced down at the picture, her breath speeding up slightly before she resumed staring at the wall.

"How about this pretty doe?" the panther continued on, sliding a picture of Marcy Deerborne in pawcuffs next to the coyote's. He went on, sliding other pictures in front of her of those mammals who had resisted arrest during the CI sweep. She still kept her cool, relatively speaking, though the panther's predator senses knew she was almost panicked.

The senior agent, the badger, kept a casual eye on Patricia's face, her sympathetic smile never leaving her face. It had taken them four hours to get to this point, mostly waiting for suitable photographs to arrive, but now the suspect was ripe. The badger sighed, tilting her head slightly.

"What I don't understand," she said, curiously, tossing a ZPD case folder in front of the wolfess, pushing the spread-out pictures out of its way, "is why you used your Agency-issued, Woody-22 to murder Tonya Ryzhaya?" Timing is everything, the badger thought.

"That conniving bastard!" Patricia exclaimed, completely losing it with a long string of foul expletives. "I can't believe I let him into my bed! That little maggot!"

The badger glanced at the panther without the wolfess noticing. The panther leaned in, whispering into the wolfess' ear.

"And why should you fry for what he did?" he said, curiously. "He duped you, after all, didn't he?"

"Arthur, that bastard!" Patricia spat. The badger and panther looked at each other.

"Arthur Foxworth?" the badger asked.

"Yeah," Patricia said. "Arthur Friggin Foxworth, ZIA Operations Director."

The badger looked confused. "He's dead," she said to the wolfess. "Murdered in Labtierre last night."

Patricia laughed hysterically, tears coming to her eyes. "Oh, that's precious!" she said, laughing. "Next you'll tell me it's raining cookies and cream."

The panther slid the folder with the Labtierre Provincial Police report in it on the table, open for the wolfess to read.

"Octavio!" She shouted. "That double-crossing—"

"Belyiklyk?" The badger asked, surprised. "Octavio Belyiklyk, the Baratean Trade Attache? He and his family are getting on an airship to Aurora as we speak."

"You're all alone here," the panther whispered, desperately, behind her. "Let us help you."

"We want to help you," the badger reinforced. "We really do. But you need to talk to us. ZIA is breathing down our necks to turn you over, and we both know you don't want that."

"Your operatives don't have your training, or your resolve," the panther insinuated, sorrowfully. "They are not keeping silent. Once the Attorney General believes she's heard enough, there won't be any deals left for you, Patricia. You know how the game is played: You don't want to be the one left standing when the music stops."

The wolfess whined almost inaudibly. "We can get the death penalty off the table if you talk to us," the badger assured, encouragingly. "But once the AG calls time, the ZIA gets their paws on you to extract whatever they can, however they can. You're senior level, Patricia; you know the protocols."

Normally, they would not be able to interrogate a suspect for this long, or without a lawyer present. Counter-Intelligence cases, however, didn't have those restrictions. While ZBI didn't have authority to use chemical interrogation, ZIA did. The agents knew this. So did Patricia. And once started, ending with a functioning mammal was not of primary importance to the interrogators. The Commonwealth took espionage very seriously, though still benign compared to most other nations.

Watching from the other side of the two-way mirror, Marcus saw the wolfess break at last. He had taken the three-hour, non-stop bullet-train from Plainsville to Bunnyburrow, arriving just in time to see this moment. Patricia knew all about ZIA procedures, but obviously little about ZBI's. The two interrogators inside were the best in the Bureau for a reason. They had already dragged more out her than anyone else had with all the others. Patricia had run a superb spy ring, controlling her operatives in cell fashion. None of them knew enough to paint the big picture, let alone give anything worthwhile for the AG to conclude the ring was broken and give up the wolfess. With smoke and mirrors those two had strung Patricia along for a ride down bullcrap lane until enough innuendo could be thrown at her to break her. He texted Matilda to let her know.

9:45 AM

Matilda's phone buzzed.

Message from: Hot Ram: 09:45 AM: Big bird is singing. Luvya.

The ewe's face took on a decidedly predatory demeanor as she looked through the one-way mirror at the deer doe cuffed to the chair in the adjacent interrogation room with Leone standing nearby, leaning against the far wall, just to ensure nothing went awry. Her phone buzzed again, this time with an email alert. She checked her mail and chuckled. Sweet Marcus to her aid, again. She got up and went into the room, sitting across the table from the doe while Leone locked the door.

"Ten years, Marcy," Matilda said, bitterly. "I've known you ten years, held your hand through a bad divorce; stood by your side when you found that lump in your chest; even drove you to the hospital when your dad passed away. And then you pull a gun on me?" She sighed, with emphasized disappointment. "How long have you been a traitor? How long have you been a snake lying in wait to strike? You're obviously a sleeper, or we would have caught you during the last Security screening."

The deer yawned widely, closing her eyes. Matilda leaned back in the chair, steepling her paws under her chin. "Call me silly," she quipped, "but you have seniority; you were next in line for my job. What could Patricia have on you that you would throw away everything, including our friendship?"

The doe's ear twitched slightly at Patricia's name, but their height difference kept Matilda from noticing. Leone, however, caught it and winked to the ewe. "Patricia's making a deal with the AG right now," the ewe insinuated, enticingly. "Giving you all up for immunity."

The doe didn't react, eyes still closed, so Matilda pulled out her phone, bringing up the file Marcus had just sent, and pressed the play button:

"Yeah. Arthur Friggin Foxworth, ZIA Operations Director," came Patricia's voice, loud and clear. The effect was immediate as Marcy's eyes shot open.

"That freakin' bitch!" she screamed, staring at the phone. Matilda smiled. Marcus was gonna get some very soon, she promised herself.

9:50 AM

Kataiahs and Trina stayed for their tour of the farm, along with Jack, Skye, and Reggie, seeing as the road outside was blocked by all the news crews wanting an interview with Judy and Nick. Elena, Judy, and Nick went along as guides, giving them all a chance to discuss their plans.

"The Chief is sending us to Labtierre to bring back the evidence in Arthur's murder case," Judy told them. "What should we do?"

Kataiahs grinned. "Bring it all back, of course," he said. "If our suspicions are correct, it will not be him, but it should hopefully give us a starting point to find him."

"Don't forget about the scrambler," Nick piped in.

"Oh, right," Judy remembered. "The Chief said the scrambler turned red this morning. Was that you, Kataiahs?"

The lynx shook his head. "I am afraid not," he told them, concerned. "I did not expect Baratea to have the capability of cracking that device." He looked at Reggie. "That is a very good piece of work," he praised the fox.

"Not if even Baratea can crack it," the tod responded, disappointedly.

"Do not underestimate the Barateans, Mr. Toddwell," the lynx warned. "Many of Mammaldom's top theoretical scientists are Barateans. They might be considered a little backwards by the rest of Mammaldom, but that is entirely by choice. Never forget, the bomb we are looking for was created by one."

"He's right, Reggie," Elena said. "That device is cutting-edge engineering. Not the work of some quack."

"And their Intelligence service is arguably the best in the world," Jack added. "As this Packland mess is revealing."

"Not so admirable when you consider they also created the Slave trade," Skye grumbled.

"My dear Mrs. Savage," Kataiahs said, gravely, "Barateans did not create the Slave trade."

"They have the oldest Slave market in the world," Skye retorted.

"The oldest operating Slave market," Kataiahs clarified. "The Slave trade began in Thestlewich, with the Tuzhei Empire. It is how they managed to become an Empire."

"Rabbits didn't create Slavery," Jack protested. "Why would they do such a thing?"

"Strong labor, Mr. Savage," the lynx told him. "Most History books hide this fact. Had you continued your Doctorate coursework, you would eventually have learned this."

"How do you know about my—" Jack stammered.

"Really, Mr. Savage?" Kataiahs asked, drolly. He went on, "Aptila the Hound was an escaped slave, from a half-feral, Wildlands tribe. He decided to put an end to the Slave raids by eliminating what he thought was the source of the problem: The Tuzhei."

"Guess he was wrong," Nick said.

"Most assuredly, Mr. WildeHopps," the lynx said, disappointedly. "Rabbits are not the source of the Slave problem: Greed is. And that is pandemic to Mammaldom. Once Slavery began, there was no stopping it."

"I always thought Slavery was a predator thing," Judy said. Kataiahs laughed.

"Mrs. WildeHopps," he said. "Predators back then would much rather eat their prey than put them to work building roads and such. Slaves need to be cared for and fed."

"I see your point," Judy conceded.

"Sure explains a lot about your views on housework," Nick mumbled, earning him a slap by his mate's ear.

"So," Judy said. "Nick and I go to Labtierre for Arthur's remains."

"Cynthia and I need to return to Zootopia," Jack said. "There is a lot of clean-up at the Agency, and I need to push the Mayor to get this new operation moving. I don't know how much support we can provide until we know how much damage the Agency suffered."

"We can stop by the estate on the way back," Skye said to Judy. "I am sure Papa can provide some assistance. You two are part of the Family, after all." She took Jack's paw. "It is also time he met my mate." Jack blushed.

"Reggie wants me to go work at the ZIA," Elena said. Jack frowned.

"I don't think that is a good idea right now," he said, looking at Skye. The vixen shook her head, agreeing. "Let's keep you 'off the books' for the time being. I will send you a Confidential Contractor Agreement with the Zootopia Field Office." He entered a memo for that into his phone. "I think the first thing for you to look into is the Scrambler. Reggie knows it better than anyone else; let's see what you two can come up with to make it better. Think outside the box." Elena nodded excitedly, grabbing Reggie's paw.

Kataiahs brought out an envelope, tore it open, and pulled out a blank, Platinum MammalsExpress card and handed it to Judy. The card was peculiar in that it had a small needle tip on one edge. "May I have your thumb?," the lynx asked her. She looked skeptically at him, but held her thumb out. He poked the tip into the skin and twisted the card so that it broke off. Judy pulled her thumb away with a yelp.

"That hurt," she said, licking her finger.

"I've heard about those," Nick said with an impressed whistle. "Registers a DNA sample and embeds an RFID chip into the finger." He looked at the lynx. "What's the limit?" Kataiahs laughed.

"If you try to charge more than ten million at one time, they will call me," he said, smiling. "Just keep in mind that there are not many of these cards in the world, so make sure you are discreet when you use it."

"Don't I get one?" Nick asked, tail wagging slightly. The lynx just tilted his head with a smirk on his face. Nick's ears went flat, mumbling something under his breath.

"As I said before," Kataiahs reminded them, "my resources in the North are limited. So, I have decided it is time for Hometown Female Health to open an office in Aurora. It is a vast, untapped market," he said, sounding purely like a business-mammal, "with some of the most interesting clientele in the world." He smiled. "Sooner or later, we will end up there," he said, "so we might as well prepare in advance. I will give you all my secure link number—yes, I do have a secure phone; I own the company that makes them. We shall keep in touch that way."

"If that covers everything for now," Trina chimed in, sniffing the air; they had made it to the berry gardens. "I believe there are berries that need picking." They all nodded, and merrily went about picking the colorful berries.

Author's Note:

There it is. I hope you enjoyed it. Mostly dealing with fallout from the previous night, which opened a huge can of worms...

Let me know your thoughts.

Until next time,

Thanks for reading!