At the Zootopia News Network building, the day was beginning for the ZNN's star new anchors. As Fabienne Growly and Peter Moosridge arrived for work.
Peter looked exhausted and disheveled, not helped that his antlers were caught on the door frame of his car. "Why... why can't I ever remember to pivot with my own car?" He said in annoyance.
His co-host, by contrast, looked immaculate. "Off on the wrong hoof already Peter?" Fabienne asked.
"I. Do not. NEED this, Growly." Peter seethed at the snow leopard.
"I was merely asking a question," Fabienne said.
"Just... I'm sorry but can you please get the grease I keep in my trunk?" Peter asked.
XXXX
Several minutes later, the two news anchors were getting ready for work. "Well... another day, another paycheck." Peter said as someone was applying makeup to him.
"Can one day go without you complaining?" Fabienne asked as she looked over some papers.
"I wouldn't... but every day it's the same thing. Reporters misreport what's going on in the field, more often than not on purpose. Small details are ballooned out of proportions. And people think we're in on the misinformation just because we're the ones reporting it." Peter said bitterly. "I tell you right now Fabienne. I didn't become a journalist just to become another talking head."
"Then why do you even come into work?" Fabienne asked.
"I also don't want to be unemployed, and I don't do well with menial work... also this is one of the few workplaces in Zootopia where the doorways are antler friendly," Peter said.
"Peter... you are an enigma of a moose," Fabienne commented.
"I have principles but my job basically requires that I throw them under the bus. It isn't THAT hard to figure out." Peter said.
XXXX
"Hello and welcome to ZNN, I'm Fabienne Growly," Fabienne said.
"And I'm Peter Mooseridge," Peter said to the camera, pretending that he wasn't a manner of Revenant, that was dead inside and so hollowed out by his job that he barely slept at night. "Our top story today. Mayor Edward Swift-Hoof has gone on record on recent reports from the scientific community regarding the strange quantum energies they've detected. Is, and a quote." He said picking up a piece of paper. "'Nobodies business, as the general public does not have the understanding of Quantum Physics beyond 'random magic like substance'. So it is not our place to speculate.' In turn, Zootopia University agrees with the Mayor's Office."
"In other news," Fabienne said. "Davies Hopps, the author of beloved children's series, Monty and his Penguin Pals. Has been spotted at a Buga Burger, eating one of there famous Buga Burger's with Anna Blackpaw, head of Blackpaw Publishing LLC." She explained as footage of this showed on a screen. "Mr. Hopps then assaulted our camera mammal while screaming obscenities."
"WILL YOU WORTHLESS ******** DREGS LEAVE ME ALONE! I'M TRYING TO HAVE A ******* DATE WITH MY GIRLFRIEND! HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF I EAVESDROPPED ON YOUR **** MOMENTS?!" Davies screamed.
"Davies Hopps was promptly banned from Buga Burger locations across Zootopia for this incident," Fabienne said.
"Well on that note, let's move on to sports!" Peter said. "Armano, how does the season look?"
Then an Armadillo in sports attire started running around his area of the stage, whooping, screaming, throwing balls and other sports equipment around and loudly shouting in Italian. This went on for about three minutes. "Now... now-a back to you-a Peter."
"Thank you, that was... inciteful," Peter said, convincingly disguising his sarcasm. "In other news, tragedy was averted today at Zootopia International Airport."
"Yes, that captain of a commercial airliner had taken a number of muscle relaxants while on duty," Fabienne said. "If it were not for the bravery of a stewardess, the plane may very well have crashed. Fortunately, the worst that happened was that the plane spun wildly on landing."
"We'll be back after this word from our sponsors," Peter said, then when the cameras turned off. "Okay... so does it seem like something that someone with autism would do? I don't have enough personal experience. But that looked like he had had a rough day, and Leonard pushed him over the edge." He said, relieved that he could be himself.
"It's possible. Why else would he be eating fast food with Ms. Blackpaw?" Fabienne said.
"And why is Armano still the sports guy? He's completely incomprehensible when he's excited... and he's ALWAYS EXCITED!" Peter said in frustration. "And who takes muscle relaxants on the job like that?! I swear... nonsense like this is why I hate this job." He said as he leaned back in his chair.
"Well, mammals do tend to be stupid... like the Night Howler Crisis," Fabienne said. "I lost track of how many Prey cringed at me, or ran from me, or threw insults."
"I'm very much aware of that... of course, back then the news we were reporting was comparatively normal," Peter said. "Nowadays a day rarely goes by with something weird happening. If it's not superheroes crawling out of the woodwork... it's demonstrably supernatural forces running amok. Remember when the city was flooded by blueberries?"
XXXX
"-there was enough fish for the potluck," Fabienne said.
"Inspiring stuff there." Peter lied through his teeth. "And... I'm getting word of a breaking story from Collin Meerkatly, our field reporter." He said. "Collin, what is going on where you are?"
The scene changed to Collin Meerkatly standing in front of an abandoned factory. "WOULDN'T I LIKE TO KNOW!" He shouted in panic.
"Collin, did you call in on a-" Fabienne was interrupted as a giant moth crashed through the abandoned factory windows.
"No... I just have no idea how this started!" Collin said.
"How did you find this anyway? Where did it come from?" Peter asked.
"I followed the roars and sounds of destruction. Not a clue where it came from, however!" Collin said, terrorized as the moth screeched loudly.
"Collin, do you know if the police will be there?" Fabienne asked.
"I have no idea!" Collin said as the moth landed behind him. "All I know for certain that I will NOT be eaten by a moth big enough to abscond with an elephant in one of its legs!" He said, not noticing that two figures had landed on the moth, pulling on its feelers.
"You might want to delay your funeral plans, Collin!" Peter said as the moth flew off, roaring in pain.
Collin looked up to see the moth flying in circles. "Well... I did not see that coming!" Collin said in disbelief.
"Can you make out whose riding that moth?" Fabienne asked.
"Sort of..." Collin said. "There small... about my size I think." He said looking up and squinting as the moth flew about haphazardly, screeching in pain. "Beautiful moth though... I mean besides that it's a giant monstrous insect." He said.
"Can you at least speculate on how this moth came to be?" Peter asked.
"NO! I remember what you did the last time I speculated on the news! You took the muffin, my aunt, Bernice made for me!" Collin said defensively.
"How was I supposed to know that was filled with grubs?" Peter answered.
"IT SAID SO ON THE MUFFIN WRAPPER!" Collin yelled, completely ignoring that the moth had crashed behind me. "AND YOU LEFT THE WRAPPER IN THE FRIDGE WHAT THE HECK!?"
"Collin, the moth is unconscious... at least I hope it is," Fabienne said.
Collin looked behind him and recognized who had tamed this moth. "IT'S OFFICERS NICK AND JUDY!" He said excitedly as the fox and rabbit duo fell off of the moth from exhaustion. "Collin Meerkatly, Zootopia News Network. This may not be the most opportune time. But what the heck is going on here?!"
Judy and Nick were breathing heavily in exhaustion. "Well... we were at Chimera Park," Nick said in between pants. "And... and for some reason the... the egg heads made this moth."
"Yeah... yeah, we- oh stood up to fast," Judy said. "It-... it escaped, and we... we... we leaped on it's back, and... and tried to get it down." She explained. "Why... why is everything still spinning?"
"Is anyone coming to get this moth out of here? And if so, then who?" Collin asked.
"I think... how haven't I thrown up yet?" Nick complained. "I think that Chimera Park... Security should have followed the tracking tag implanted on her." He said as he fell onto his knee's.
"I see, one last question before I go back to Peter and Fabienne... can I get a selfie with you two?" Collin asked.
"Collin I don't think there any shape for a picture," Peter said. "Besides I think you have an entire album of selfies with them already," Peter said, Collin ignored this as he Nick and Judy got into position to take the picture
with the downed moth.
XXXX
"Why... why would anyone make a moth that big?" Peter said to Fabienne during lunch break. "What is the appeal beyond moth enthusiasts?"
"I'm going to assume that at least made sense to them. Though I'm more curious as to HOW they made a moth that big." Fabienne said. "My guess is that is was crossbred with a large dinosaur... not sure which one-off
paw."
"As I said before... things were better BEFORE all this weird stuff going on. No mad science, no superheroes. Not blaming them, but the fact they're usually the only ones who can handle some of this weirdness is depressing." Peter said. "And my personal favorite... Zootopia was never attacked by hybridized monsters, robots and anything else we missed!" Peter ranted.
"It is rather suspicious that our investigations were blocked beyond what we were told surrounding the event," Fabienne said. "This may be me being paranoid... but I still think there's more to the story around the Battle of Zootopia then we've been told. In fact... there might be more going on in general then-"
Peter's phone then went off. He then answered. "Peter Mooseridge speaking."
XXXX
That following evening, Peter was at Blackpaw Mansion. "TEA?!" Josephus offered.
"It had better be actual tea, and not a wooden letter again," Anna said sternly to her demented butler. "Now onto the matter at hand. I saw your most recent broadcast, and when it covered Davies meltdown... I could feel your frustration that one of your own had stuck his nose into someone else's business. Yet you did not show it." Anna said looking impressed. "Did you learn acting anywhere?"
"No... no formal education in acting. It's just something I've had to pick up with my job." Peter said.
"And I do not blame you... no doubt being blamed for deliberately spreading misinformation, and for reporting such unpleasantness. Can crush even the most stalwart souls." Anna mused. "But see... I'm willing to get you away from all that."
"In what regard?" Peter asked.
"See... I've recently got it into my head to open my own movie studio." Anna said nonchalantly. "And I need actors on my payroll... preferably ones that can act and not be insane weirdoes. In fact, here are the criteria that Davies wrote down just for this project." She said handing Peter a binder.
Peter looked over each page as he leafed through the pages. "Would it be a stupid question if I asked why 'not ableist' is written in all capitals, in bright red, underlined, and has about five exclamation points following it? Because I know about the issues he's had to deal with regarding Badgerton."
"Yes, I had assumed that everyone knew that anyway. And yes, Davies was insistent on listing that seven times the exact same way." Anna said.
Eventually, Peter finished looking through the binder. "Well, I'm happy to say, that I'm ninety-nine percent sure this entire binder applies to me to a 'T'... except for the parts that just seemed to be especially weird character quirks."
"Davies... can be more than a little weird himself, and take it personally when people doubt him," Anna said. "You don't have to decide right away, but consider this. You have a job you've become disillusioned with, and I'm not only offering you a better paying-"
"Deal, I'll work on quitting ZNN and transferring to your people. We'll work on something official by then." Peter said. "Also... were these cookies meant to be shaped like 't's'?" He asked as he looked over a cookie that was indeed shaped like a capital letter 't'.
"My butler is a raving lunatic. It's not outside of the realm of possibilities." Anna said.
XXXX
The following day. Anna and Davies met at the Blackpaw Publishing building. "Well, I got Moosebridge onboard. Hopefully, we can get the media off of your back."
"I can't... I can't apologize enough for what I did." Davies said anxiously. "I mean... embarrassing you in public at a fast food joint? That... even as bad a day I had. That was no excuse to embarrass you as I did." He said.
"As well as assaulting and injuring a camera mammal," Anna said.
"Just... this whole indenture has been stressful!" Davies said.
"I know my love," Anna said sympathetically. "But your right... I cannot allow the decadence of the west to corrupt our world more than it already had."
"Yes..." Davies said. "Hollywood... must be humbled. The entertainment industry... humbled. Made to realize it's mortality... and pay for every transgression... but-"
"I will protect you, as I have since we first met dearest, Davies," Anna said tenderly. "No matter what lengths our foes resort to stymy us. We will persevere. Besides, I would be more concerned about proper assassins then lawyers- HIT THE DECK!" She said as she threw Davies to the floor. Followed by several whizzing sounds, and clear bullet wound on her body. "Just stay there and play dead until I return!"
She then leaped through a window, and quickly found, then apprehended the would-be assassin... a mouse.
"Tell me... is racist to presume your employer in this matter? Or was it another who paid for Mr. Hopps's death?" She said, taking the mouse by the throat.