Chapter 64

.

AN: And seems we're updating on time. Hooray.

.

Far out, racing down as fast as they could, weaving between the middle and centre lane regardless of however many blaring horns followed them, a bulky van paced through the long miles, ticking them down as it bared down on its location.

"Not long now!"

In the back, the beaky face of a turtle looked up from his computer screen, Bently nodding at Murray in the front. "Well unfortunately it seems that in order to get there when it matters now we'd have to break several major laws and…"

"ON IT!" Murray shouted, the van jolting as he slammed his foot down, the engine roaring as they picked up the pace. In the back Bentley had to re-engage his wheelchairs braking system to hold himself steady, the reptile turning forward and crossing his arms.

"Laws that I actually hold as invaluable and unbreakable, of which the speed limit is not one of them."

"Ah, oh, laws of physics then?"

"Indeed. And the one about not going for the middle urinal between two people when there's a spare somewhere else, but I don't see that being relevant to this…"

"-Wait, I thought you said we had plenty of time!"

Looking up, Bentley shook his head. "That was before one of Carmelita's cop friends was kitnapped by a dangerous mammal."

"Oh no, not one of Rattigan's…"

"I don't think so," Bentley said, peering in. "Remember how I said those arms dealers were operating in town? ELSA…"

"Yeah."

"This sounds more like them, and them taking control of the essence of our not quite departed ultimate foe does not fill me with any more confidence than it does falling into Professor Rattigan's paws."

"I… Wait, what can we do?"

"Well, her newly found ace is still in play."

"Oh thank god," the hippo said, sighing with relief.

"It's just Carmelita, her cop friends' lives, etcetera who are in danger."

"Oh no, I mean… She'll be fine, right? Right?"

"I don't know, I can't get a good read on what their setup is with this short notice," he said. "Either way, our retrieval mission may have to be put on pause for just a little bit if things go down badly."

"Right," the hippo sighed. "Drive. Wait. Hope. I'm only happy with one of those."

Behind him, Bentley cracked his knuckles and started to work on his keyboard, fast. "Don't worry. I still have one great big ace up my sleeves. That I hope I don't have to play."

.

.

Stepping out of the cruiser, Carmelita checked her watch. "Five minutes," she whispered to herself, looking around. Judy was already there, in front of her a little, her body tensed up and shaking as if she were a spring ready to shoot forwards only to be barely held back by the controlling force of her rational mind.

The bears meanwhile stood together, looking forward, calm but ready.

More vehicles pulled up. Registered to Precinct Four, those mammals who could come spilled out, moving behind the rough shelter of half broken brick walls and metal skips as they formed a rough perimeter. In reality it was far more a simple wall, cutting off the fourth side of a long thin pier sticking out into the water. Presuming that the mammals inside the dockside warehouse in front of them, which almost certainly included a dock, had a boat, that would be the way they'd try and escape.

Which made Carmelita thankful that the harbour patrol was reportedly deploying in force. Already a rough line of boats had strung themselves across the opening of the Northern Bay and were already pushing in, narrowing, tightening the net. As for the Precinct Eight mammals from the Marshlands, she could hear the buzz of their fast hovercraft out in front of her, already reporting in as the first line of defence.

That only left the air. Were they to use a drone or bat, the force already had both of these here, made evident as a flurry of wing beats in the night air formed around her. A swoop and a high pitched chittering had her pulling her ears down and ducking as a small figure swooped in and then up, feet first, onto the underside of an old bike rail.

"Hola, Señor Asalivre," she said, as he turned up and faced her. The small free-tailed bat, already the fastest flier out there, was geared up in a specialist body suit, skin tight yet breathable with attached communication gear and tiny reserve weapon. From what she'd heard, Rattigan's Fidget would be no match for just him, yet alone his team, now roosting up around them.

"O que?" he chirped, upside down head quirking a little.

"¿Confío en que su equipo de persecución está listo?"

He blinked before growing. "You estúpida mexicana raposa, stop trying to steal my species to your dump of a home!" Carmelita backed off, but he carried on before she could get another word in. "Despite that my pursuit team will do its job, is that not right boys!"

They all began nodding, cheering, shouting out 'you bet' or 'pode apostar' before he, and they, took off again.

Carmelita facepawed herself before shaking her head and focusing. A few more police cars were turning up, mammals getting out and ready. From what she'd gathered, they were trying to get the vehicle pursuit crews and the T-U-S-K forces ready at key intersections and choke points further out. They wouldn't get here in time for the big moment, but they'd be ready to react. Other forces were coming in from Precinct One as well. Mostly ones who weren't on the Little Vostok convoy mission into Tundratown.

She ground her teeth a little. Hopefully they still had plenty to seem intimidating enough.

"-Two minutes…"

She looked down at Judy, offering a paw. The bunny paused, looking at it for a second, looking back at the large building in front of her, stiffing herself up, breathing in and out… Wavering just a little before doubly stiffing herself up for good measure.

Carmelita kept her paw open.

A few seconds later, Judy's found it and held on tight.

"This is everything I wanted to avoid," Carmelita said, eyes focussed forward. "It is why I kept you out of it."

"I don't suppose you're going to give us an I told you so," the bunny muttered.

"Sí, when we are all home, recovered, having won this day and kicked their tails."

Judy looked up, managing a smile, before focussing herself forward. "What if they're using an otter to get the goods out. A small one could take the item. A large one or something even bigger, like a sea lion, could smuggle them all out underwater. They could have breathing equipment…" She held herself there before focussing in closer. "I know some harbour patrol vessels have pinniped nets, but that was more Tundratown…"

Carmelita nodded, bringing out her communicator and keying in, requesting the harbour patrol officers currently mustering the combined forces. The call was put through, Judy relaying her request and listening back to the response.

"-Some of the hovercraft have nets, but they weren't planning on using them," the bunny said to those around her before then speaking back in. "Might be an idea to have them ready for deployment. Everything other than pulled down. I'll get in contact with the air forces, tell them to look out for any bubbles or anything… If they try and get this back to Rattigan via a pinniped, I want them pinned for it." She moved to cut it off, only to pause as a raised voice came in from the other side. Carmelita couldn't hear the exact words, but she could tell it was a mix of confused and exasperated. Judy just listened in.

"These mammals know that this is a trap. They're professionals. They will have some way planned to get out, I don't know what… And were hoping to catch us either by surprise or so short we couldn't get a good enough force ready to stop them…" The bunny glanced around. Even now they hadn't reached two-dozen mammals on this side. For all she knew they had a tank or something in there and planned to just blast their way out. Fight on until they could give them the slip, or spring some new surprise. "Or both…" She said. "Regardless, we need to be prepared. We're not going to let Rattigan extort us for one of our own."

She nodded at the response before pressing the button and passing the radio back to Carm. "Thanks," she said.

Carmelita nodded. "Rattigan, or whoever this is?"

Judy paused, looking up. "Who else could it be?"

The vixen looked down. "Whoever blasted open those snow tunnels in TundraTown? I've heard plenty about an international arms dealer suspected of being in this city…"

Judy nodded a little, remembering the odd mentions. "I think them getting control of all this would be even worse."

Carmelita let out a sigh. "The devil you know, the devil you do not." She braced herself before checking the time, looking around. "I think it's time."

Taking a breath in, Judy nodded. "Yes," she said, glancing at the bears. "You three don't have to do this…"

"He said we had to be there," Po said, fist coming up. "And boy, will we be there!"

Judy raised a finger, about to protest, only for it to fade in her mouth. She nodded. "Thank you, it's appreciated, truly." And with that she, Carm and the bears walked onwards.

Into the no mammals land. Across the tarmac, across the open, until a rusty metal door, hanging ajar, stood in front of them.

Carm opened it and in they went.

Almost immediately there was a sign. 'This way guys!' An arrow drawn below. More followed, a whole excess, the paint still dripping wet.

"These kinds of jokers," Carmelita hissed, all the while taking up point, her eyes, ears and nose doing their best to see if they were about to fall into some kind of trap. She'd already told them all to look out for things on the floor that might spell trouble. The old whacking favourite, plastic sheeting. A hollow sound underneath and faint lines of a trapdoor. Even a rug, it might be a net in disguise.

Instead the floor was just solid concrete as they turned the corner and… "AH!" Carm froze, paws shooting her Shock Pistol into position before freezing, her eyes narrowing at the sight. One paw came up and gave a knock, a dull hollow echoing sound coming out of the giant fibreglass shark.

She stepped around it, the group following, pausing to read a sign. 'Sorry, couldn't get a real one in time.'

"Is this guy trying to set up a shark pit?" Po asked, his voice hushed. "Because that's cool, I'd be okay with being dropped into one of those."

Kozlov snorted. "Do you have death wish young bear?"

The panda blinked. "Who said anything about death?"

"Anyway," Carm said, "I smell other stuff too… Reptile, insect, bird, Fox…"

She hurried on, turning the last corner, foot paw coming up and kicking the door down with a bang. Shock pistol up, she marched in, already shouting out orders as if her brain was working on autopilot. "You are hereby under arrest for kitnapping of an officer of the law, whoever you… -are!?"

Judy quickly pulled herself to Carm's side, dart gun up and pointing before she froze at the sight in front of her. The eyepatch wearing wolf had removed both his white fur job and female bikers clothing, going back to the timber wolf browns and greys she knew from the time he'd stalked Dr Silverfox. The pure white suit was new though.

As was the fish tank containing a piranha, terrariums containing a snake and a tarantula, and Nick, tied up and drowsy in a chair, newly dressed up in a grey suit, white shirt and black tie.

The wolf paused before glancing back at Nick. "Oh that? Yeah, his clothes were pretty messed up from the whole chase thing. I thought I'd give him something new. You know it was that, the purple dress, or the black and orange thief's suit but I thought…"

"That you could get away with this?" Carm asked, growling. "I mean, what even are you?"

He shrugged, putting his arm into the snake's terrarium and letting it slither up his arm. "Oh that's simple," he said, smiling as he leant back, arms stretching out, the snake slithering along and across, straight to Nick's chair. "I'm a bad guy."

…

"Also a wolf. But I thought that was pretty self explanatory."

"We have what you want," Carmelita said, nodding to Kozlov.

"Do you now?" he asked, pulling a small wand-like device up. The snake now slithering around Nick, Carmelita kept her eyes on it, all while the polar bear began walking forwards.

"So tell me," Carm asked, eyes scanning about. "Is that snake one of the very rare sentient ones?"

"Nah, just well trained and coily, cuddly… Eh, bitey." He smiled. "I mean, these are great henchmen. I couldn't get a great white shark, well not strictly speaking, but I got these guys huh! And heck, they proved their worth. They passed the audition."

"Audition?" Carmelita asked.

"Yeah," the wolf began, before pausing. "You know, now that I think about it I could let all the failures go. I mean, I am a bad guy, but I ain't that bad of a guy, huh?"

Before anyone could get a single word in edgeways he flicked a small switch, the room echoing out to the sound of unlocking gates and creaking hinges. Judy and Carmelita snapped into sharp focus, guns up and pointing, scanning, looking around the various boxes as birds, reptiles and even some amphibians and insects began pushing out, ready to free themselves.

At least in most cases.

The floppy eel, by the looks of the now spasming mammals around it an electric one, didn't have much of a chance.

"Ooops," the wolf just chuckled, as a giant frog, big enough to give Judy worries, gave a croak of pain as it got too close, jumping right into an albino peacock that fluttered away in a ruffle of feathers. "Hey, what can I say? Could be worse."

"How?" Judy hissed.

"...I could shoot an otter in the back."

…

"See, I'm not that bad," he said. "I wouldn't shoot an otter in the back. Or a puppy. In the face. I just want some neat henchanimals. Some gangs like… What was it, The Coopers? They had all the luck, they had a funky non-mammal that talked! You have to look real hard for those, but hey, that's just me. I think I like what I've got right now, makes me look coooolll…"

"Nah," Carm hissed. "Honestly, the lady's clothes were a step up from this."

He smirked a grin. "Sounds like something my shark would say."

She paused, head tilting, before shaking it off as he laughed.

It was Kozlov that cut in again. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"Probably," he said. "Think back. But first, come over here."

…

"C'mon, come over here," he waved, motioning back to Nick, all the while his paws were out and waiting.

"Mr Wolf," the Panda King cut in, the lupine looking over to him and smiling. "I see you treat this all as great game, but it is not."

"Who said anything about treating this as a game," he said, pausing as Kozlov let the small talisman hang in front of him. Checking it with his wand again, the wolf pulled it away in a flash, smiling and letting his paws rise up as he saw the shock pistol and tranq gun even more-so trained on him. He glanced at Nick, walking over before Judy even had to say so. The captive fox was moaning slightly, stirring in his chair, and Judy marched forward regardless. "Now let him out."

The wolf shrugged. "Sure," he said, beginning to work on the bonds.

All the while the five mammals kept their eyes fixed on him, only occasionally glancing out at the odd assortment of animals he'd let out on the floor. It didn't matter, the wolf kept undoing the straps. First one.

Then two.

Then… "You know, you could have totally shot me and ended this a while back."

…

"So the question is, why haven't you?" He paused, looking up and smiling. "You think I have an ace up my sleeve, huh?"

…

"A great big plan to save myself, get the thing out, etcetera. And that hitting me will, what? Set it off?"

…

"I mean you're completely right there, which makes a change." He gave them a wink with his one good eye.

…

"Do you know why I do this? The whole dress up thing. It's because I hate guinea pigs."

…

"-What!?" Carm asked.

"Yeah, I know," he said, pointing at the snake, still waiting on Nick's lap. "Sounds like the kind of thing he'd say. If he could talk. But the thing about guinea pigs is they look cute, innocent, etcetera… You forget that they're the most horrible evil little pieces of scat that ever existed. I mean, when they and the llamas had their empire, they'd get their little children to compete in beauty pageants and stuff… to see who'd be sacrificed to the volcano gods. And okay, sure, mesoamerican fun stuff. We can look back at it and call it cute, see the adorable little guinea pigs acting all innocent, wearing ponchos and playing flutes and panpipes acting like they're the happiest nicest guys. They anglicise their Peruvian surnames to things like Marmalade… I mean, seriously? And they nibble on coca leaves, tea, flowers and go on zoomies… Ah, cute. Druggies! It's enough to make you all forget which species controls the cocaine industry!"

He chuckled. "Oh, and they are the single species most responsible for modern day cannibalism, but anyway… Look at me. A big, bad, wolf. Yeah, we're the opposite of those little rats. We can be cool good guys, but even better bad guys. And if that's the case, and you're owning it…" He smirked. "Why not own more than one huh? I'm not just the big bad wolf, I'm all the big bad wolves. And you don't know how to handle that, do you? That's why you're just standing there, waiting for this to be over, or for some signal or something, or…" He let out a little laugh. "Or you just like the sound of my voice huh. Well, glad I could monologue along, huh. Shall I stop now?"

"Nyet," Kozlov said. "Tell me, agent of Rattigan."

The wolf burst out into laughter. "Really, you think I'm working for him. That meet-up at the warehouse was just me being a fake dissident… Ah, you remember that now, huh?"

"Elsa," Carmelita said, "international arms dealers. I've heard about you." She smirked. "Ambitious mammals are after you too, it'll be fun to rub it in their faces that we were the ones to bring you in."

"Oh, wait, this an interdepartmental rivalry thing?" He asked. "You… You weren't the ones to rescue that other bear?"

Kozlov blinked. "Vasily is…"

"How do I know," the wolf shrugged. "But yeah, if those weren't you guys after us, but rather other guys actually after us, shame I don't get to rub my victory in their faces. Shame you don't either," he said, the last binding on Nick coming undone. He poked the fox in the side a little, a few mumbles coming out. "Give him a few sec…" He began, as Kozlov marched over and pulled him up. "Sure, do that instead. But tell me, what do you know about us?"

There was a pause…

"You know so little, huh," he said, waving them off as he went into his desk and pulled out a chinese takeaway menu, pausing before pocketing it and pulling out a pina-colada. "And the funniest thing is that what you do know is completely wrong."

Retreating back towards the door, Carm snorted. "Tell me then, huh? You like the sound of your own voice. Tell us, who is Elsa? Let it go."

"No, no, no… Not who, what," he said, smiling as he leant forward. "The greatest asset our organisation ever gained for its secrecy was a simple mistake by one of the first people to hear its name. You're thinking Elsa the female name huh? No-no," he waved off. "It's el sa. L, then S, then A. L-S-A. One dodgy phone connection or non-english speaking… -I don't care, it works for us. All this time, mammals searching for some girl or something, not realising the true meaning at all."

"Which is," Carm said, as she began to scootch the mammals towards the door.

He shrugged, smiling. "Lord Shen's Army."

"Who's…" Po began before jolting upward, a strained grunt coming from his throat. One shared by all five mammals who'd entered the room as they stumbled forwards before falling to the floor, a small thin needle in the back of their necks.

The wolf just chuckled and looked on at them, and then up to the white figure behind them, wing and feathers outstretched from his sweeping throw of the tranquiliser darts. "My Lord," he smiled.

Shen just pulled his wing back in and paced onward, claws raking against the metal floor as he pulled them forward and placed them down, pacing towards his victims. He paused, glancing down and sneering. "For a simple operation, you have certainly produced a lot of bycatch, haven't you?"

"Ah," he said, holding up the small necklace. "But it was worth it, wasn't it?"

Through the greying of her vision, Judy tried to focus on Nick, keep him in view as he tried to reach out. Her sight faded as the pinpricks of talons rested on her head, the albino sentient peacock perching as he sneered, as much as someone with a beak could do, at the mess. "I suppose," he said, looking down and extracting one of the delicate needle-like throwing knives, laced with tranquiliser. "I suppose however frivolous the charade, I can say it was successful."

"What did I say, third time's the charm," the wolf said, jumping over the desk and towards a nearby ladder. "Got you everything you wanted, clean sweep. Now let's get outta here, in style."

"Yes, if you must," Lord Shen muttered to himself, turning around before flying up and over, through a hatchway and into a small cabin where his silken clothes lay waiting. All as the sound of cracks and groans began ringing out, joining the pounding of the boots of his underlings on metal and timber as mammals began moving around. It was all very much a ludicrous display they'd set up.

But he smiled contently, knowing how excellently it had worked out.

Oh, when they woke up…

Tonight was going to be an excellent night.

.

.

Outside, even more ZPD mammals had turned up. By land, by sea, by air, they had them.

Pulling amongst the ranks was a new cruiser, two recently transferred officers stepping out, both of them now sharing in their discomfort for their current environment. The spotted hyena marched forwards, her arctic fox underling following after her as they reached the line, their fur ruffling from the beat of helicopter blades up above. Her eyes narrowed. Something was up.

"Don't worry, we've got enough forces here to stop them whatever they throw at us," the arctic fox said, before pausing. "Unless it's a giant robot or something, then…"

She snorted. "No, look!" From behind the warehouse a lumpy metallic figure was pulling out. "Some kind of boat, ha! They've fallen right into our trap." The line of nearby police vessels stood waiting, and off in the distance were the lights of the harbour patrol. Carla cracked her knuckles, looking forward to the oncoming spectacle, only for a needy tugging at her sleeve to pull her down.

"Uh… That thing kinda looks like an iron clad. So unless the ZPD drafted in that novelty pirate ship we passed on the way here, I don't think we have any chance to…"

"Relax," Carla smirked, even as it sailed towards the police-vessel line, shrugging off calls to stop, water gun blasts, barrages of darts or even live ammunition. "So what, it pushes out slowly into open water. We call in a naval vessel or helicopter or something. Boom, like a sitting duck. What can it do?"

"...Dive?"

"Ha, I'd like to…" She trailed off as blasts of air came out from it, the vessel sinking down into the water, submerging well below the reach of any of the ZPD vessels. One of the hovercraft pushed forward, deploying its piniped net to try and snag it, only to succeed. The submersible simply pushed on, the hovercraft crew realising its mistake too late. Jets of water sprayed out of the rear of its skirt as its stern was lifted up and bow was pulled under. Doors swung open, mammals fled, the screaming engine was cut, and the whole thing flipped over onto its back.

Soon sinking below the water, any trace of the vehicle it was trying to snag gone.

The air was silent.

"So, uh…" Jimmy began. "If you have the number of any friendly or just hireable very big marine mammals, that might be super duper useful right now…"