(AN: Hello Fellow readers. SirRedFox here posting a new installment of "The Good, The Bad, and The Wilde." First off, if you're reading this, YOU'RE AWESOME! And, thank you.

Once again I find myself not happy with the outcome of my writing. There are a lot of repetitive phrases because I kept trying to make the last chapter not exist. My writing is not good and I apologize. I can only hope the story is captivating enough to not realize. I try to get better as I go along, sometimes it's just not the case with me. Usually my fallbacks are on drugs and alcohol, which have become more frequent as I proceed forward with this story.

In the Previous Installment: Jack and Skye investigate this back alley medical clinic, which unfortunately gets torched in the process.

So enjoy this new chapter of "The Long Hustle: Vol. 2, The Empire & The Emperor." And please, fill free to leave a review or comment. Thank you.)

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Morning to Night:

Morning...

Bagheera laid in bed, naked, tossing and turning till waking himself up. The room, dark and blurry. He rubbed his eyes to better focus. It was morning and the sun started to peak. Bagheera sits up and turns to the black panther sleeping naked beside him in the queen size bed they shared. His name, Trevor; a young panther with smooth black fur and a well trimmed body. Bagheera met the young panther at the Mystic Springs Oasis, the nudist palace. Bagheera had almost eighteen years over him, but that didn't stop him from working his charm on the young feline. Since then, the two panthers been with each other and even moving in together.

Last night, a passionate night for the two of them. Trevor worked as an EMT provider and attending a degree from Zootopia's medical school. Bagheera came home last night to find him passed out on their couch. Bagheera found him in his pair of scrubs and one of his many school books in his lap. Bagheera took advantage of his position and rubbed his hand down Trevor's shirt. Massaging his chest before bringing his hand out to massage the fur on Trevor's cheek. Trevor woke up with a smile on his face. He stretched upward and wrapped his arms around Bagheera's neck. They shared a passionate kiss, similar to that scene in the Spider-Pig movie, where they kiss while Spider-Pig hangs upside down. The sensation made Bagheera feel his blood run hot.

The ringing of his cellphone took him out of his dreamy daze. He answered it with a stern 'hello.' The voice on the other end, the wild aardwolf that Shera had over seeing the hospital. Frantic and sounding out of breath. Apparently, the ZBI were tipped off of about the hospital.

"Calm down," Bagheera said. "Listen to me carefully. I want you to go to the old quarry over looking Zootopia. We'll sort all of this out tonight." With that he hung up the phone.

Bagheera got out of the bed and got dressed. He wore his slick black pants and white button up shirt, he liked looking fashionable. Last a black suit jacket that he left unbutton. He smiled at his own reflection in the mirror.

"Where are you headed off to?" came a groggy voice from behind. Trevor's eyes were only half open. He stretched his naked body the way feline's do, extending his arms and letting his claws poke out.

"I have to head out. Work," Bagheera said.

"I guess that means you won't be telling me what it is your going to go do," Trevor said

"I keep work and what we have here separate," Bagheera said. "A promise I made to you, and a promise I attend to keep." For Trevor's own good to not be exposed to what his line of work was with his brother.

Bagheera leaned down, cupped Trevor's cheek, and gave a passionate kiss on the young panther's lips. So many years of hardship and he has finally received his reward. This is his reward. This young panther he kissed, that was his reward.

Bagheera broke their passionate kiss and headed for the door. Making sure his phone in his pocket and a sliver pistol tucked under his arm. Once he cleared the building he would call his brother to deal with the situation at hand.

Judy yawned. The sun was up but still early in the morning. She had left Marion's place, dropping off Archer. Today was to be another long day. Apparently the ZBI raided a hospital that was being used to treat criminals. However, one of the suspects was able to escape and not before lighting a whole file room ablaze.

Thankfully, Jack and Skye were able to detain one mammal of interest, a female honey badger. From what Judy was able to hear through the grape vines, the raid was going good until Jack tried chasing down a wild aardwolf. The aardwolf was able to escape, but not before setting fire to the hospital.

She was told that the ZBI got a hot tip from someone. Judy had a hunch that Nick gave them the hot tip, but they would never tell her. They still did not wanting her to try and reach out and make contact with Nick, all in the sake of this undercover operation. There was much that Nick needed to know. Thinking about all of it made Judy queasy and give a long sigh. Today was going to be a long day.

Wilford laid awake next to a beautiful female timber wolf, Aurora. Though her minimum wage job at PrideRock Inc., would keep her for long hours. These long hours would cause her to go on, sometimes days, without eating or getting any proper hygiene for herself. Her fur, when not ruffled or greasy due to long hours, was that of a golden rustic shine. It felt comforting to lay next to her and as much as he would want to stay in bed next to her, he had a job to go to, and a special someone to meet before the start of the day. He moved quietly out of the bed, making sure not to disturb her slumber. Gathering his clothes and tiptoeing out of the house. He put on his pants and a blue ZPD t-shirt, and his Furvale hat.

The hard part, getting past all the toys strung across the floor. Her son Logan, who was half timber wolf and half jackal, being not the best at being tidy. Though the kit was quiet most of the time when he would come to visit Aurora, Wilford had a sense that the kit did not like his presence. A cough made him turn around. Logan sat at the dining table. He wore his pajamas and eating a bowl of cereal. Wilford stood frozen. He didn't have the best experience, but has had some experience when it came to kit rearing. He had Nala and Simba's kits to thank for that.

"Hey, Logan. How you doing buddy?" Wilford kit gave no response. He instead wiped a milk mustache off his muzzle. He carried his bowl to the sink, packed with dirty dishes, and walked back to his bedroom. "Okay. You get some rest pal."

"Don't worry, he'll come around to you eventually." Wilford heard Aurora say behind around to find her wrapped in a blanket to cover herself. "Besides you know how much faster canines mature. So, just give him sometime."

"I know," he said. "I know what it's like for someone you don't really know try to be a father figure. I can't even remember how I came around with my foster parents."

"With time, that's all" she said and planted a kiss on Wilford's cheek. "Now you better hurry off. I'm going to try and sleep some more before work."

She was right, it was time to go. Wilford grabbed the rest of his things and headed out of the apartment complex to his car. The precinct was not too far, but that wasn't where he was headed.

Zootopia's finest retirement facility in Savanna Centrel, close to Little Rodentia. Walking in he looked down at his timber wolf hands and how empty they were. He should have brought something, flowers, chocolates, anything.

The inside of the retirement home was decorated all in white. From the white painted walls to the white carpet floors. Looking around pandas in scrubs were attending to the elderly mammals. Two pandas where pushing an elderly elephant in a wheelchair.

"Wilford!" He hears his name called out. Turning, two female jaguars, one black and one with black spots, ran up and embraced him in a hug. They were his sisters, or rather foster siblings, Cassidy and Lily. The two jaguars were the same exact age, but they had four years on top of him. Even so, he was much taller and bigger than his two jaguar sisters.

"It's good to see you too, sis," said Wilford.

"We are so glad you made it," said Cassidy, the full black furred jaguar.

"We were afraid you'd forgotten." said Lily, the spotted jaguar.

"Mom's birthday, no," Wilford said. "Though I wish I had brought something though."

"She will be glad just to see you" said Lily. "You better go ahead, we know you are busy with work." She tightens his Furvale hat on straight.

"Okay. Love you two. We'll catchup some time," Wilford said.

He marched down the hallway of the facility. As he kept walking down, the rooms went from large mammals to smaller mammals. He didn't stop till he was at a small door for rodents. He knocks on the small door. A squeaky voice from inside tells him to come on in. Though he could not fit through the door, the entire section of the wall opened up for big mammals like himself.

Opening the wall up, Wilford was able to lean in and lay on his side. Sitting up in bed, was a small female gerbil with gray strikes of fur. Looking up at the timber wolf, she smiled.

"Wilford," she said.

"Hey mamma. Happy Birthday," Wilford said.

"Come closer so I can hug you." Wilford leaned down close for the tiny gerbil to hug against his cheek. "Oh, I got you something. Right behind you."

Wilford reached back behind him and felt a rectangular object wrapped in protective plastic. It was an issue number one o' two of The Purrnisher comic. The front cover of the comic showed The Purrnisher beaten and worn out and tired. His ballistic vest, homing his iconic image of a lion's skull, blown and ripped to shreds.

"Aww, mom. Didn't have to do this for me," Wilford said. "It's your birthday and I didn't even bring you flowers or at the very least a card."

"I don't care for such things. I'm just glad you're here. Sigh, I remember when you first came to the foster home. You were so standoffish. Kept to yourself, barely talked to any mammal. That was until we brought you to an antique shop and you found a stack of comic books. You sat there reading and flipping through that small stack of comics, you were particular fond of that superhero in particular." She points to the cover of the comic in Wilford's hand.

"Because he had a tragic back story and had every reason to give up on the world, but he instead kept going and the harder he fought the more he was able to deal with his tragic past. And other mammals liked him and helped him, no matter what type of pain he was going through," Wilford said.

"And when we agreed to buy them for you, was the first time you smiled," said his foster mom. "You finally opened up to us and helped you become the cop you are today. Though we had to tell you more than once to not bring your comic books to the dining room table."

"I remember," Wilford said. He looked longingly at the cover of the comic. "Mom," he said, "What made you and dad never give up on me? I mean, I was so difficult to the both of you, and to Cassidy and Lily. What made the two of you never stop trying to get through to me?"

"What makes you think you weren't worth loving? We were never going to give up on you."

"Just that, I've been seeing someone and-"

"You have! That's wonderful news. Who is she? Or is it another male? And is it another timber wolf?" She asked gleefully.

"Yes, she's another timber wolf." Wilford rolled his eyes, a little embarrassed by how his foster mom was acting. "And she happens to have a kit with his own tragic back story."

"All you can do for now is be there for him when he does finally open up to you." She leaned in and placed her gerbil hand over Wilford's paw.

"Thanks mom." Wilford leaned down and planted a kiss on his mother's forehead. "I'll try to come back and see you later tonight, but right now I have to go the precinct." Wilford scooched on backward out of the room and closed the wall back up.

In the basement of Precinct One, Basil works away in the forensic lab while plucking the strings to his violin. He and his assistant had now the chard remains of hospital files to go through. Well, what was still in one piece after being forged from the chard remains. There was still the remains of a dead panda to examine. He was still waiting for several test to show any results. He's so close to solving this enigma.

He checks the clock on the wall, five past eight o'clock. He looks at his pocket watch to confirm the time was right. The doors to the lab burst open, panting and holding papers and a cup of coffee, was Terra. She frantically apologized for being late, blaming the traffic. Though Basil knew this not to be true, for the truth was that she has been seeing some mammal, a lion to be exact. Several clues that pointed to this, the first was her tardiness. On days that she was running late, Basil notices she would be drinking coffee from some new organic place. She never finished the coffee, hating the taste, but would still go there because her crush either works or frequents the joint. On the days she came in late there would be the smell of perfume on her. The chest of her scrubs would be wrinkled and have the hair fibers of a feline's mane, suggesting that she was courting a male lion. However, the main give away was how happy she was on days that she meets this lion mate of her's.

"If you plan on being late Ms. Terra, you could at least tell me the truth." Basil points his boney finger at the coffee pot. "Now, why don't you pour yourself a cup of coffee you prefer and get the day started. There's lots to uncover today." As Basil predicted, Terra tossed her cup of coffee into the trash bin and poured herself a fresh cup from the pot, as Basil predicted she would.

"What makes today so special?" Terra asked. Her question was answered once she saw, displayed across the lab floor, the chard remains of some filing storage unit. Seemed like little information could come from the scorched records."What is all this?"

"The other day," Basil said, "The ZBI raided an abandoned hospital that was working as a back alley medical clinic." He placed his violin beside him. "Unfortunately, one of the suspects working in the hospital was able to get away, but not before setting fire to the medical room containing files on all their patients. We have to rummage through the rumble and see if we can find anything useful or anything of importance."

Basil got up and walked to the edge of the lap table. "But first," he said, "I need you to take me to the interrogation room where they are holding one suspect. Agent Savage and Skye were able to arrest a honey badger and I'd like to be on the other side of the glass when they finally decide to interrogate her."

"Yes sir." Terra extended her hand and arm, and let Basil climb all the way up to her shoulder.

Jack stood in silence, starring at the honey badger locked inside the interrogation room. Ever since the raid on the hospital, Jack has been standoffish. Or rather since she found him on the floor paralyzed with fear, starring into the flames that engulfed the file room. Since then he had not said a word or acknowledged what had happen.

"Jack?" said Skye. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he said, not turning around to face her. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because you've been, distant ever since we raided the hospital."

"Look its something i don't want to talk about."

"It was the fire wasn't it. You froze because of the fire."

"Enough!" Jack crossed his arms and shuffled from side to side, he closed his eyes and shook his head. "The last time I saw that much fire was when I was a little kit and it killed my family."

"I'm sorry," Skye said in a soft understanding tone.

"Sigh, I need to go see my family. At least talk to my sister."

"Ah good, we haven't missed anything." Basil says, as he and Terra walk into the interrogation room. Terra lifts Basil off her shoulder and places him on the desk, where he could get a good view looking into the interrogation room.

"This will do my dear. I want you to go back to the lab and start examining all the records that have been burned. Hopefully you can find something salvageable." She gave a stuttering 'yes sir' before leaving the room.

The next two to enter the room was Nala and Wilford. Nala smiled and laughed as she poked fun at Wilford. She pointed and laughed at Wilford's neck, where visible bite marks. Love bites, Nala call them, courtesy of Wilford's girlfriend. The last three to enter were Judy, Captain Bogo, and Director M.

Great, everyone is here, thought Jack with a bit of a sigh. His mind was still trapped looking into the fire portal at the abandoned hospital. He tried shaking the thought away and focus on what was important.

"I'm glad you all are here," said Director M before giving a hacking a cough into a handkerchief. "As you all well know, the ZBI conducted a small raid on what was a back alley hospital. All thanks to our undercover operative. If you'll take a look at our board."

Director M stepped over to a pin up board. The board had a few pictures pinned up and a lot of blank spaces, connected together with red yarn. The whole structure of the board formed that of a pyramid.

Jack looks over at Judy who holds tightly to the necklace around her neck. He knew she was thinking about Nick when he said 'undercover operative.'

"We finally have a name for the big mammal in charge. He goes by the name Shere Khan." Jack pushes in a thumb tack at the top of the pyramid on the board, right below a blank spot. There wasn't a picture to display yet.

"We don't have much to go on and we don't have any identification on him. We do know that he has a two trusting mammals under him. a vixen fox named Vicky and a black panther who's supposedly Khan's brother. The three that we need to concern ourselves with, to stop the spread of Blue Sky, is taking down three key members. They are the over seer of everything which is Khan. The supplier to have everything they need to make Blue Sky which is Flynn McDowell." Director M slaps a pinned picture of McDowell on the board. Finally the chemist who actually makes the formula for Blue Sky. So far we have no leads on who that could be. Which is why we are hoping Miss Honey Badger in there will cooperate with us."

Jack peered into the interrogation room the honey badger rapidly tapped her foot with impatience. Every few seconds she would shoot a glance at the clock. Perhaps a few more minutes and then he'll go into his interrogation mode.

"Doctor Basil." Outside the door were the cries of Terra.

She swung open the door and held up what look to be an x-ray of some kind. She calmed her self down looking at all the mammals in the room. She never did good in front of crowds of authority. She ends up stuttering on her speech.

"I-I-I found this among the burn wreckage," Terra said. "It seemed im-im-important to share right away."

Director M snatched the x-ray from Terra's hand and held it up. He had no idea what he was looking at or what he was looking for. Basil ordered him to hold it up to the light so that all could see. He did as he told with a grunt. He hated the way Basil, such a little mouse, could be so bossy at times. Every mammal crowed around him to get a good look at the x-ray. They all starred in bewilderment to the image.

"What the hell is that?" Nala said.

"More like what the hell are those? And are those suppose to be the tiger's paws?" Questioned Wilford.

Jack snatched the x-ray. He pushed aside every mammal. One mammal that knew exactly what this x-ray showed, and it was time for her to start talking. He opened the door and went inside. The honey badger leaned back in her chair, all tense like. Jack slapped the x-ray down on the table and pushed in front of the honey badger.

"You are going to tell me just what exactly this is" Jack said with a harsh tone in his voice.

The Honey Badger looked down at the x-ray.

Night...

Nick drove through the night. Shere Khan had asked to be driven somewhere, along with his brother and Vicky. He hated that Vicky took the front seat with him. She would every now and then caress his ear, to which he would flick her finger away.

They drove for more than an hour to reach an old quarry. Pulling up to the quarry, Nick saw a figure in the dark. Shining the headlights on the figure, It was the wild aardwolf from the hospital. He parked the car but kept it running and shining the headlights on the aardwolf.

Khan and Bagheera both got out of the car. Nick did not know for sure if they wanted him to stay in the car or night. Since they did not give him an answer, and not wanting to stay with Vicky, Nick followed the two felines out of the car. He stays a few steps back, not wanting to interfere but merely observe.

"Thank Azala you're here," said the aardwolf as he stepped forward to greet the large tiger. "The ZBI raided the hospital. And I did everything you told me to do if such a thing happened. I set fire to everything I could before escaping. I did-"

The aardwolf stopped talking when Khan placed a large tiger paw on his shoulder. "You did good," Khan said. The tone that he used sounded so sinister. "Tell me, are you marked?" the aardwolf nodded yes.

Khan referring to branding of the Gothic S over a K onto those that worked for him. Thinking about it made Nick's branded mark start to hurt. Nick put a hand over his chest as if easy the pain his chest endured from being branded.

"And any of them get a good look at you?" Khan asked.

Nick knew what "them" meant. Seeing if any ZBI agent saw him and could identify him. The aardwolf slowly nodded yes to Khan's question.

Khan placed his left tiger hand on the shoulder of the aardwolf. He padded and squeezed the shoulder as if to tell him everything would be okay.

"I appreciate your honesty" said Khan.

From Khan's right tiger hand popped out claws made of metal. They glisten in the low moon light. With his right hand he plunged deep into the aardwolf's admin. Lifting him off the ground. With Khan's left claws, and his tiger speed, he slashed his metal claws deep into the wild aardwolf's neck. blood poured out like a river from four large gashes. The aardwolf put his canine paws around his neck, to stop the bleeding. A futile effort. The aardwolf collapsed to his knees and looked at his killer, Khan. In just another second the aardwolf collapsed to the ground, dead.

Nick watched as it all unfolded. He looked into the dead eyes of the aardwolf. Khan raised his tiger paw as blood dripped from his metal claws. He pulled out a white handkerchief and whipped them clean. Leaving no trace.

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(AN: Thank you for reading, and Thank you for reading this. Again, YOU'RE AWESOME! I hope you enjoyed this new installment, I do try leaving you, the reader, with wanting more.

I don't know why, but Shere Khan having metal bladed claws has been a fantasy of mine since I was eight. Something about this powerful feline becoming even deadlier and more dangerous. Was a little surprised no one questioned it.

In the next installment, we go further into the night.

As I said before, please leave a commit on how you'd rather have future chapters come out, or a simple review letting me know what you think. Thank you!

- SirRedFox)