Chapter 12: Snooping Underground
When they broke the lock and pushed the door open, tranquilizer darts at the ready, the sight greeting them was… anticlimactic. Just more broken down walls and rubble in a small room that was half collapsed into itself.
Wolford and Fangmeyer, already being larger than Nick and Judy, but also standing in front of the other two officers, got the first good look of the empty place.
"Why does it look like nothing is here?" Wolford asked, "just more rubble. Not something someone would install new locks over."
Judy was able to make her way into the small space, only to stop and frown at the lack of anything interesting. "Maybe someone knew we were coming and left along with all their stuff?"
Fangmeyer nodded. "It's a possibility. Not the first investigation into a drug den turning up empty because someone leaked the info out. The case file was gathering dust for a few days before Bogo handed it over to us, and I have no idea how long it took someone else to create it in the first place. If it was a leak, there was plenty of time for it."
"I have another possible explanation," Wolford added, "what if whoever was here used this door as a kind of red herring? Make us think that something is here when there isn't anything?"
Fangmeyer shook her head, letting out a frustrated sigh. "Maybe. Maybe not," she admitted, "guessing the whats and what ifs will get us nowhere, so let's stop speculating. We still have the rest of the building to look over." As she turned to leave, she stopped at the sight of Nick holding up a piece of rubble over his head. "Uh, Wilde, what are you doing?" she asked.
Nick grinned back. "Tell me if this doesn't sound right," he answered, and dropped the hunk of concrete. The rubble hit the floor with a loud reverberating clang, instantly getting everyone else's attention.
"How did you know that the floor was hollow?" Just asked, staring at her partner dumbfoundedly.
The fox's grin only widened. "Lucky guess, that's all," he said, only to then point at the ground next to where Fangmeyer was standing. "Actually, I saw a long and straight crack in the floor and thought that it was too straight."
The tiger stared down and even backed away a few steps to get a better view. "Still, that's… good eyes there, Wilde," she complemented. "Does sure look like a door of some kind. All right, let's find a way to get it open."
With the four of them helping out, it didn't take long to clear out the rubble and miscellaneous items blocking their way, revealing a simple rectangular metal door, hinges on one side, and not even any locks holding the thing shut. It was also missing any handles, but Fangmeyer solved that problem by jamming a stray bit of metal rebar into one of the door's bleed holes and leveraging the hole thing up. With a high-pitched creek, the door angled up and with a push on the rebar, Fangmeyer pushed the whole thing open. Dust and pebbles fell into the now revealed dark opening in the floor, but no other noises came from either around them or from the tunnel they revealed.
Wolford turned on his flashlight, trying to illuminate down the vertical tunnel, but all that was visible was a simple ladder going down into pitch darkness. "Well that doesn't look foreboding at all," he commented as he peered down. "Let's try something else then."
From his pocket, he pulled out a small flare and cracked it on. Holding it over the opening, he dropped it down, letting them track its progress as it fell down inside the tunnel. Clanking against the ladder a couple of times, the flare hit what must have be the floor, just barely visible from where the four officers stood above.
Fangmeyer grimaced as she tried to guess the distance. "Looks like three stories down, at least," she commented. "I fear we're going to have to go down there ourselves. Just a moment." Instead of her radio, she used her phone to call Bogo directly. A short conversation later, and she put it back in its holding place. Even though the other officers were close enough to have heard the conversation, she still summarized it to get everyone on the same page. "Right, we go down there," she confirmed. "Hopps, Wilde, stick to Wolford and I. Our radios should still be able to communicate to each other, but I doubt we'll be able to get a signal to the outside world. Because of this isolation, we're only going to search for anything suspicious. If there is any sign of trouble, we leave immediately. Everyone got that?"
They all nodded.
With her own nod of acknowledgment, Fangmeyer cast one last glance down the ladder. "I'll go first. Wolford, stay right behind me. Hopps and Wilde, wait for our signal." With a sigh and a deep breath, she clambered down the ladder. "Good luck everyone!" She disappeared down the dark tunnel, Wolford following her soon afterwards.
Nick frowned as he stared down at them fading into the darkness below. "Why do we have to stay up here like children, Carrots?" he complained, "they should know that we're more than capable of handling ourselves."
Judy grinned and shook her head. It was something that she herself would have said on her first year on the force. Correction – first two years. "Because they are our senior officers," she explained teasingly, "it's their job to go in first into a potentially risky situation. We're the backup in this case, not the front line."
Nick shrugged. "Well, I know that duh. But still..."
The radio crackled. "Ladder area's clear. You're both good to join us."
Judy grinned. "Ladies first," she teased again, grabbing onto the ladder before Nick can beat her to it. Not that it mattered, with the climb being more unnerving due to the difficulty in seeing the rungs below her rather than anything else.
Wolford's and Fangmeyer's flashlights helped her for the last section, and soon enough, the four officers stood at the base of the ladder, illuminating a regular shaped if completely dark hallway in front of them. Once on solid ground again, Nick and Judy added their own lights, revealing something interesting on a wall nearby.
A fuse box and a light switch.
"Think that still works?" Nick asked in a whisper, "if it does, it will tell anyone home here that they have uninvited guests."
Fangmeyer frowned as she walked over to the fuse box, inspecting it. "It all looks intact, so if there's power going into wherever we are, I think the lights will work." She reached out, hovering a finger next to the light switch. "Besides, if anyone's home, I doubt that they don't know that someone else, us, is down here. We weren't exactly quiet on our way down." Turning away from the switch, she glanced down the dark hallway leading away from them. "And I would prefer to see better at what we're getting ourselves into." Taking in a deep breath, she called out into the darkness. "ZPD! We have a search warrant!"
As her voice echoed down the hallway, she flicked the switch. At first, nothing happened, but then the ceiling overhead crackled and flickered as the overhead lights slowly came to life. Several seconds later, the lights came to life properly and revealed the corridor they stood in as nothing more than bare concrete with the occasional closed door on the side, before the whole thing took a ninety degree turn to the side and disappearing from view.
Wolford whistled in amazement. "There's no way that was supposed to work," he breathed out, "you're really going to tell me that this place had power going to it by the utilities all this time?"
Judy didn't know whether to smile in satisfaction or wince in uncertainty. "As glad as I am that I can see now," she muttered, referring to being the only one with poor night vision, "now they definitely know we're down here."
"It's not our job to ambush anyone," Fangmeyer replied as she readied her tranquilizer pistol. "We're here to inspect this place and see if we can find anything drug related. Wolford, what's your nose telling you?"
The wolf sniffed the air around them. "All the scents are old," he answered, "not ten years old or anything close to that, but this isn't a place frequently visited. As for drugs?" he sniffed again. "Not a thing. This area's clean, as far as I can tell." He readied his own pistol, leading Nick and Judy to do the same, "there's still a lot of this underground area to inspect. Be ready for anything."
The four officers proceeded cautiously down the hall, checking the various doors. Most were locked, but occasionally, one would open to reveal what looked like nothing more than abandoned office spaces. Desks and chairs could be found inside, but no papers or computers remained to reveal might be found down here.
"Hey guys, I just thought of something," Nick muttered as they inspected another tiny office only not to find anything of note. "If I am right about this place being abandoned for a good decade, and I am quite sure that I am-"
"Wilde, get to the point or shut up," Fangmeyer cut him off in annoyance.
Judy cast a worried glance between her partner and the lead officer before nudging him to keep up.
"My point is," Nick continued as though he didn't hear her complaint, "we're underground, but apart from everything being empty, this place looks… normal. Like any other office space that was packed up and moved. But we're underground. Do any of you know how much it costs to build and maintain anything of this size underground? A lot! As in, several times more expensive!" As he talked, he nearly walked into Fangmeyer, who had stopped in her own walking.
"Wilde… Nick, please," she let out a long breath, "I know there is something seriously sketchy about this place. Everyone knows this! But can you please be quiet? This is the exact kind of situation where officers get hurt. Or worse. So keep your mouth shut and your eyes and ears open."
Nick groaned at the telling off and shook his head, but didn't try to argue back. As his eyes wandered, he found himself again staring at a concerned Judy looking back at him. Despite the mask covering half her face, her expressive eyes were all that were needed for him to know what she was thinking. "Relax, Fluff, I got it," he muttered with a shrug, "I'm paying attention to my surroundings."
Not that there was much to look at – the unpainted concrete and plain doors didn't look any different than when they first turned the lights on. That is until they reached another door, that when they tried the handle, revealed itself to be locked like others. But this door was slightly different.
Fangmeyer motioned at a very small door built into the one they just tried. "Hopps, you should be able to fit through there. Try it."
Judy approached the small mammal door and gave it an exploratory push. It opened. Carefully peering inside, she found that the light from the corridor didn't go very far inside. Flicking her light on, she scanned what was on the other side, but didn't see anything unusual. "Empty tables, some chairs like before," she muttered as she scanned with her light. "Should I go in?"
Fangmeyer tried the main door handle again to no avail. "Be careful. Unlock the door for us. If you can't, return to us and we'll keep looking elsewhere."
With a quick nod, Judy slipped through the small door and scanned the room when she was on the other side. Just another empty room, from the looks of it. Pushing a chair over to the door, she hopped on top and reached for the main handle, unlocking it from the inside.
The other officers filled the room, inspecting all of the corners and looking quite disappointed when they didn't find anything.
"Right, this was a waste of time, but I suspect we can expect all of the other locked rooms to also be empty," Fangmeyer concluded. "Unless this should be counted as unlocked like the other rooms we searched." She exited the room, motioning for the others to join her. "There's still several more rooms left, plus whatever lies past that bend there. Personally I wouldn't mind not finding anything, this place is giving me the creeps."
The other rooms along the section of corridor they were in also proved a disappointment, again just a collection of either locked or unlocked but clearly abandoned rooms.
What they found on the other side of the corner was a whole different story, however.
Carefully peering around before rushing in blindly, Fangmeyer stared at a couple of more doors lining the walls, but that wasn't what was interesting her. What interested her was what lay at the end of the hall, or rather, the impressive looking door that lined the opposing wall, isolated from the rest. If she didn't know any better, Fangmeyer would have said that the door had come straight out of a cheesy science-fiction flick. "Area clear," she informed the others, "but what in the world is that? As in, I've never seen a door like that before?"
Nick took his own peak around the corner and grinned. "That would be an airlock," he answered, "it isolates the air systems between us and whatever is on the other side." He hummed in thought. "A bit on the fancier side, but it also actually makes sense when about why it's underground," he continued to explain, "if whoever designed this place wanted to isolate everything including the very air around something, then you do so underground and use airlocks as the only way in or out. I wouldn't be surprised if the ventilation system going out is heavily filtered and also has some sort of mechanism to lock it all down."
Fangmeyer stared at the fox. "Uh, Wilde, color me impressed, but how do you know all of that?" She paused, reconsidered her thoughts, and shook her head. "Never mind that. At least we know what we're looking at. But why here underground?"
Nick scratched his muzzle though his mask as he thought. "Well, one theory is that if you're dealing with something very dangerous, you can isolate an unintended leak by keeping everything in a concrete box underground like we're in now. Closed off air circulation will help in keeping everything even more isolated." He grinned at the others, no doubt eager to show off more of his knowledge. Hospitals and the like use them all the time when developing new medication and the like with the testing they do. Speaking of drugs, but it doesn't need to be said that placed like these get used for less than noble purposes as well. Uhh..." His ears fell as he realized something. "Speaking of drugs indeed… What were we sent here to look for again? Oh, right..." He looked at the door nervously.
The others looked as well, following his gaze. While the door was made largely of glass, time and wear turned the once transparent surface into a milky haze that was impossible to gleam anything useful through.
Fangmeyer once again took charge. "Right, why do I feel like we will find whatever we're looking for through the door?" She groaned slightly, not liking the idea of possibly trapping themselves inside. "Chief Bogo will almost certainly hang us off our butts for this if we back out, but I want a unanimous call for this," she announced firmly, "Wolford, Hopps, Wilde. Do any of you not feel comfortable trying to get past that door? I won't hold it against you if you don't, and I will certainly do my best to make Bogo understand. We're just cops, after all. This isn't a normal situation for us." She glanced at her main partner. "James?"
Wolford grinned back. "Sure, we're just cops. But it's still our job. I for one knew the risks when I signed up for the academy."
Fangmeyer also grinned, but it faded as soon as she looked over to the newest officer in their group. "Nick?"
Nick was busy staring at the door. "Why does this feel a lot like Cliffside Asylum again? I bet you a lot of money that there's going to be some shiny new equipment on the other side!"
"Nick!" Fangmeyer complained.
He blinked and turned to his superior. "Oh, right. No, I'm not afraid to go in there. Let's go."
The tiger sighed as she turned her attention to the last and smallest member of their team. "Judy? You good?"
Judy nodded. "Not a problem for me!" She cast a glance at her own partner. "And Nick's right. This does feel a lot like how when we found where Mayor Lionheart was hiding all of the savage mammal. At Cliffside."
"Okay," Fangmeyer concluded, "then it has been decided. We go in. So first thing's first: We need to find a way through that door." She walked over to the door at gave it an experimental pull. To her shock, it gave away a crack. "It's… open." Considering the place they were in, the most lavish door being unlocked was the last thing she expected. Either way, after only a moment's hesitation, her cop instincts kicked in. "Wolford, you're going through with me first. Hopps and Wilde, wait for us on this side until we radio in that you're clear to go through. James, ready?"
Wolford moved to her side. "Let's do this."
Together, they cautiously opened the door to reveal a very tiny corridor, noting how the air seemed to move past them and fill this small space. "Just another door," she told Nick and Judy who stood behind. "Also too murky to see through."
Nick motioned for them to continue. "That second door won't open while this first one isn't closed if the entire thing is working correctly. It's to do with the whole air isolation thing!"
Nodding, Fangmeyer let the door close behind her and Wolford. She waited, trying to feel her surroundings and gleam if anything might be off. All the scents apart from her partner were old and stale, nor was she able to feel anything off apart from the general creepiness of being in the small space. From overhead, a ventilator got to work circulating the air. Pawing her radio, she could only just make out the fuzzy outlines of Nick and Judy waiting on the other side. "So far so good. We're ready to open the second door. Radio check?"
Judy answered. "Loud and clear. Nothing new here." A short pause. "Nick says not to worry about the air vents. That's just the airlock doing its thing."
She really hoped he was right about that. Taking in a deep breath and readying her tranquilizer, Fangmeyer grasped the handle on the second door and gave it a twist. Despite now expecting it to, she was still surprised when after a bit of resistance, the door also opened. Using it as cover, the two officers peered around it to get their first look of what lay in front of them.
Hopps and Wilde were right, this really was a lot like Cliffside. Just as when Fangmeyer and Wolford had helped with apprehending all of the mammals working there during the missing mammals case, there was no mistaking the much newer equipment compared to the surroundings. Not as much of a technological clash as Cliffside, but still evidently there. Desks held computers that could not have been and older than a couple of years. Next to them, occupying the largest area of the room was what she could only describe as a chemist's wet dream. Half broken and worn down with age, but a chemical lab of sorts for sure. And some of the glassware, like the computers, was far too pristine to be the same age as the rest.
So much for abandoned then.
But still, something odd tugged at Fangmeyer's nerves. Power was on, and now she understood why. But as she and Wolford scanned the room, she had to wonder. Where was anyone?
Perhaps they knew that the ZPD was coming in today and left town for the visit, that was unlikely. But why leave all the equipment behind? And as much as she hated to admit it, but this wasn't any chemical lab that Fangmeyer had ever run into when dealing with illegal drug manufacturers. This stuff was far too fancy and expensive compared to the cheapest material they would use in the pursuit of maximum profit.
Wolford in the meantime had finished circling the room. "Room's clear," he announced, "and I'm not smelling anything illicit," he added.
Fangmeyer nodded, the distraction causing her to remember that she forgot about two other officers. "Hopps, Wilde, room is secure. You're clear to join us."
As soon as she finished talking, the overhead ventilation started up once more in response to the airlock being opened again. Moments later, the bunny and fox duo joined them in this mysterious room. Wolford took the time to start taking pictures of the place for documentation.
"Dang, look at this place," Nick muttered as he too scanned the area. "Last time I was in a similar situation, I got jumped by a savage tiger." He looked at the walls. "Luckily I don't see any holding cells, and we're not looking for any missing mammals." Instead, he walked over to the most impressive looking of the computers, looking it over. "Should we try to turn it on?"
Fangmeyer also came over, noting how this computer was far more advanced than the junk tax-payer funded boxes that the ZPD uses. "What for? No only do I doubt that you'll be able to get past the log-in screen, but I also don't think we have the probable cause to hack into them either." She reached down and opened a desk and looked inside, finding several papers and pads with all sort of written scribbles on them that she couldn't understand. Other pages revealed schematics and other technical drawings. "We're here to find drugs. If we find them, then looking into the computers will be a whole new issue." A part of Fangmeyer reminded her that looking through this stuff wasn't part of her job, and that she really should close the cabinet and move on, but at the same time, why was she so interested in all of this? And why did it feel, despite her not being able to understand it, so familiar?
Flipping through the pages, she paused when a photograph caught her eye. No, it wasn't a photograph, but an advertisement. A poster. There was a caption on the bottom: The ultimate in portable defense! Just above the caption was a stylized photo of a big-rig truck with the cargo container in focus. The top roof of the container was raised at an angle, as though open, with parts of if covered with thick smoke. Pulling out the poster and unfolding it, her eyes followed the trail of smoke that moved closer to the poster's 'camera'. Angled towards the reader, as though trying to escape the paper, and creating the smoke, was a drone. The very top of the poster confirmed it: MQ-99, Gründer Industries.
Fangmeyer felt like she was hit by a brick. "Hey, James, come and take a look at this," she muttered. He ran over, whistling as he glanced down at the poster. "This is something Skye and Savage will be interested in."
"No doubt," he replied, taking a picture of the poster. "You found it in that open drawer?"
As Fangmeyer nodded, a loud thump from somewhere overhead was heard, causing all four officer's eyes to snap up at the roof. "What was that?" she asked, "anyone seen anything?"
"Negative," Judy replied. The others also expressed their lack of doing anything.
"Sounded like it might be the ventilation system," Nick added as well, but sounding uncertain as he scanned the roof. "Perhaps it was an air pump turning on or something."
A bit of exposed fur on Fangmeyer's wrist rustled in the soft breeze, causing her to freeze. They were indoors. Underground. The air should be completely still. That is, unless the ventilation system was working like Wilde was saying. But was could cause it to turn on like that?
Her eyes found a metal ventilation cover in the roof. "Hopps, think you can fit up there if I lift you up?"
"That won't be a problem!" Judy's reply came quickly. She moved over to Fangmeyer, looking up to the roof and inspecting the vent entrance. "Yeah, I can certainly fit up there." She then turned the other officer, one ear lowered in a sign of confusion. "But why do you want me to go up there?"
Fangmeyer pointed up to the vent. "Either that's automated, and I sure hope it is," she answered, "but if it isn't, then someone had to turn it on. You're the only one small enough to find out what's in there and why someone would turn the ventilation on when we're inside." As she lowered herself to pick Judy up, she added, "but since we haven't seen anyone in here, I sure hope it's nothing. Just take a peak inside and I'll lower you back down."
"Okay, lift me up." Standing on Fangmeyer's paws, Judy found that she could comfortably reach the roof and was able to pry off the ventilation cover with little effort. "Can you lift me up a bit higher?" From below her, she could feel Fangmeyer adjust her positioning to give Judy a bit more elevation. A little bit of adjusting later, and she was able to peer inside the dark shaft. A click of her light and she was able to make out what was inside far better. "Not seeing anything unusual so far..." she commented as her eyes adjusted to the lower light levels. "...Uh, wait, no, there's something. There's guard railing here as though to protect small mammals. And writing as well..." she tried to focus her light beam, but it wasn't strong enough from where she was. "I think I'm small enough to crawl through there," she said. "Definitely looks like there's a whole another level to this building up here. I'm going to get a closer look."
Before she could pull herself up, she felt Fangmeyer move slightly from below her.
"You sure?" came the tiger's voice. "We won't be able to help you out if you will need help up there."
"Positive."
"Okay," Another bit of shuffling, and Judy was in position to pull herself up. "Be careful. We'll wait for you down here."
Now inside, Judy had to use her radio to communicate. "Got it. Moving in now." She slowly crawled forwards, using her flashlight to illuminate the path before her. Air moved past her head at a noticeable rate, but not with such an amount to be annoying or worse. Tilting her head in confusion at what she found, Judy started to describe what she was seeing. "It's a ventilation shaft all right," she radioed over, "but there's more. I cane see railing, like a walking path for small mammals. Wait..." She moved her flashlight around, getting a better look. "Yes, it's definitely some sort of passage. There's even directional signs. I can see… 'Exit' to the left and to the right, uh… 'Assembly shop'." She crawled forward, pausing when she found to the side a small door, that when she tried to open, revealed a tiny office space just big enough to be cozy for a mouse or other sized mammal.
Adjusting her body, Judy was even able to fit mostly inside, with only her legs sticking out. Angled downwards, acting as an entire wall, was a window to an area down below. A quick inspection showed her that she was looking back down to the room where the other officers were in. "Hey, Dahlia, see that computer… second desk across and two chairs down from the airlock. Can you move over there?" She watched as Fangmeyer moved to where she asked. "Look up. Tell me what you see."
Fangmeyer looked up and stared right at Judy, but the tiger's expression wasn't one of recognition. "Looks like a metallic plate of sorts," she radioed over. Nick and James also came over to take a look. "I can see our reflection, but it doesn't look like anything important."
Judy waved a paw in front of her before radioing over. "Must be a one-way window then. I'm looking right at the three of you." Below, Nick grinned and flashed a quick salute in her direction, mouthing a 'hi' at the same time, but Judy could tell that he wasn't actually seeing her. "Okay, I'm going to see what that assembly shop is about." While crawling out of the tiny office, she hesitated at the sound of Fangmeyer radioing in to her again.
"Judy, wait. What direction is it going off to? In relation to us, that is."
She had to turn her head to look out the 'window' again, but it wasn't too much help in guessing where the others had to look. "Uh, check your right. Edge of the room. Hard to guess from up here, but I think it's going to be further away than the walls of your room if I'm guessing correctly."
"Understood. Wilde, Wolford, go look and see if you can find anything. Hopps? Proceed at your discretion. I'll wait for you here, we can use this room as a place to organize and work around with."
Judy continued to crawl forward, taking the turn at the sign pointing to the 'Assembly shop". In many ways, crawling through the ventilation area felt really weird. Being a bunny, she really wasn't used to being the big mammal in an area, but right now, she really felt like a giant. To the side of her, a large metal mesh blocked off what might be another, unlabeled path. Highlighting it with her flashlight, she was able to see though.
Air filtration unit 9D - Not an exit
Huh, sounds like Nick was right about this part.
Her curiosity for this section filled, Judy resumed crawling alongside the railing. Following the sign directions, it didn't take her too long to get to her destination. More small doors. Trying one, Judy was glad to find that the first attempt was also unlocked. Just as she was guessing, it was to another tiny office, also with a large window to an area below. Poking her head inside, she scanned the place below.
Her eyes widened. "Everyone, you won't believe what I am looking at over here. I'll try to take pictures, but I don't think I'll be able to get my phone into a good angle."
The reply came in with a crackle of the radio as well as some audible grunting from whoever was trying to speak. "Just a second, Wilde and I found an important looking door blocked off by a rather heavy shelf!" It was Wolford. "What are you seeing over there?"
Tapping the 'take picture' button several times at different positions, Judy hoped that she would get at least one usable image out of this. "It's a machine shop of sorts, a very advanced one if a bit small," she answered, "I can see an airplane of sorts, but I can't tell what kind. Not one I recognize. It's taking up just about the entire room, impossible to miss."
Another grunt over the radio was followed by another reply. "We're through, Hopps! And… Yes, there's the sign pointing us. Give us just a minute more."
Now that Nick and James were on their way over, Judy's mind wandered to the remaining officer in their team. "Dahlia, are you still waiting for me at the computer room?"
"I said I was, Hopps. Why? You see a way down into the new room?"
Judy poked her head out of the office and looks. "I don't."
"Then I'm staying here. Can't have you getting lost on us up there. Keep me updated, everyone."
When she made her way back to the tiny office, Judy saw below her as a door opened, allowing Nick and Wolford to get in. Immediately, the two split and started to clear the room to make sure that it was safe. Well, they would have been doing that if Wolford hadn't stopped dead in his tracks, visibly in distress the moment he lay his eyes on the strange aircraft. Judy clicked her radio. "James, what's wrong?" In many ways, it was slightly odd seeing him rather close to her, but his reply still coming in through the radio instead.
"It's that drone, Dahlia. It's one of those damned MQ-99s. I don't know how they even got one in here, but I'm definitely looking at one." Wolford immediately pulled his phone out and also started taking his own pictures as Nick joined him. "They got the inside of that thing open. I don't see any weapons, or any other internals for that matter. I think well need to bring this up to Tr- our advisers about this."
Wolford stopped suddenly again, Nick almost bumping into him. A fraction of a second later, he had his tranquilizer pistol drawn and pointed. "Shi-, someone's in here! Some kind of mouse!" His attention on said mouse now, he started to immediately issue a series of rapid-fire orders. "ZPD! Don't move! Paws in the air! -I said don't move! He's making a break for it, get him Wilde!"
The two officers in the room broke into a run, quickly vanishing from view. Judy was already busy leaving the office space and crawling back as quickly as she could. "Hopps is returning to you, Dahlia."
Ahead of them, Wolford and Wilde were busy chasing after this mouse. Despite their much higher speed of running, this suspect was using the environment to his full potential. Whereas they had to dodge and weave past and through all sorts of equipment and furniture, the mouse was able to dart underneath in a straight line. More repeated orders to stop were ignored, and so they gave up with shouting at him and instead focused on the chase.
Nick found a moment of opportunity, but in the middle of the chase, his aim was way off, especially on such a small target. The dart bounced off the concrete floor and skirted away harmlessly.
Wolford tried to get a flanking route to block off the mouse, but by the time he was able to vault over a tool desk, the mouse had slipped underneath a door which Wolford, in his haste to catch the suspect, slammed hard into with a pained grunt. He wasted valuable seconds grabbing the handle and tugging the door open, Nick darting past him as soon as a gap large enough was formed. His police training kicked in when he remembered to continue radioing in the directions the chase was taking to Fangmeyer and Hopps. "We left the room, past the open door-" Unfortunately, it was quite hard to run after Wilde and talk at the same time. "Turning down a corridor! Sign says subway station! Wilde, try to cut him off!"
Running past a ventilation shaft blowing out some rather stale and foul smelling air, Wolford stumbled as he coughed, tearing his mask off in frustration. The delay again slowed him down, but he kept his eyes on Wilde's back and pushed on. "Nick, he's getting away! Don't lose him!" Ahead, the fox vaulted over a rolling desk that the mouse used to slide under.
The chase continued on. Down more corridors and turns. Past too many closed doors, each one meaning more precious time and distance lost on their suspect. Past a very important looking room that looked like the main hall for the entire underground system, but neither wolf nor fox payed any attention to it. There was a mouse to catch.
Unfortunately, they were too slow, and the mouse to quick and clever in his escape. Overtaking Nick down one of the many hallways, Wolford pushed through one more door just in time to see the mouse dart into what must be a small mammal sized train. Diving down to try and physically stop the thing from moving, his paws collided hard into a thick pane of glass that he hadn't even noticed was between him and the tiny rail line. It was only luck that his head didn't follow through with the collision as well.
He stared helplessly as the small vehicle began to move, picking up speed and disappearing down a dark tunnel. Another set of thick glass came down to close past where the train went into, and another hiss of air was heard as the air was vented into the room he and Wilde were now in.
Getting back up to his feet, Wolford cursed loudly and slammed a fist into a wall, ignoring the pain as he growled in anger at the failed chase.
Nick stared at the other officer, panting hard and bent over from the run. He also felt bad about letting a suspect escape, but he was worried at how agitated Wolford was acting. "Uh, Wolfy, calm down... I'm disappointed too... But-" His words froze in his mouth when Wolford let out a low, very hostile growl in response. He raised his paws to show that he meant no harm. "James..." The fur on the back of his neck stood up on its end when Nick realized that something was seriously beginning to feel wrong.
"Shut it, fox!" Wolford growled at Nick once more before shaking his head and grabbing his radio. "The mouse got away," he announced, disappointment and anger thick in his voice. "Bastard's got away."
A short pause, then Fangmeyer answered back. "Understood. What happened?" If she was also disappointed, she didn't sound like it.
"He escaped by train! A tiny one that even the bunny won't be to fit in!" Wolford growled back. "Where were you two? We needed you!"
"We were following you, but we accidentally took a wrong turn. I'm sorry, James. We just reached that large room you described."
"You should have run faster!"
Nick stared at the angry officer in shock. "Really, James? She's your partner. What's with you?" He closed his mouth when he earned himself yet another angry growl from the other officer.
Fangmeyer must have figured out how to use their work to distract them from the failure. "Okay, let's all stay calm about this. Describe that mouse. We'll get topside and send out a lookout notice to all police forces in the city."
Nick gave a glance to Wolford and decided to let the officer cool off while he gave the description. "Not much to go by, unfortunately," he radioed over, "guy was wearing white coveralls. And some sort of respirator or gas mask. I grantee you those will be ditched before he gets back to the surface."
"Darn. Okay then, Wilde. Hey, you wouldn't have any idea where that subway line goes? And signs giving away any hints?"
Nick took a look through the double panes of thick glass. "Negative on both, sorry."
"It happens. Okay, want us to come over to you guys, or do you want to return to us? I suspect there's loads of things to take a look at in this room. Heh, looks like some kind of government seal on the floor."
Again, Nick took a look back, but this time at Wolford. The other officer was leaning against a corner, growling and snarling, looking down right agitated. "We'll come to you. James still looks very upset."
"Okay, we'll be waiting for you." Fangmeyer answered. "James? Talk to me. How are you feeling?"
While Nick started to walk back down the direction they ran into, he stopped when he realized that Wolford wasn't following him. Instead, the wolf officer was now down on his knees, wheezing and groaning in between angry snarls. "Wolford? You hit somewhe-" Nick froze when his voice caused Wolford to look up at him.
And giving Nick a good look at the narrowing pupils of his eyes.
"Officer Wolford, I asked you a question! What's your status? Nick, what's going on over there?"
One of Nick's paws slowly went down to his tranquilizer pistol, brushing against the feathery fletching of the dart to confirm that the weapon was loaded and ready to be used. The other paw reached up and pushed the transmit button on the radio. "F-Fangmeyer, J-Judy…" His nervous voice grabbed more of Wolford's attention, who began to slowly approach Nick on all fours. Nick backed away slowly, keeping the distance away from the wolf the same.
"Nick?" It was Judy now. "Nick, answer us or we're going in!"
Unfortunately, the radio crackle was what it took to pull Wolford out of whatever was keeping him from moving quickly. With an angry snarl, he broke into a charge at the fox.
Nick let the tranquilizer fly, but his frightened reaction meant that the dart only narrowly missed lodging into the other officer. But in situations like this, a miss of a millimeter is just as useless as a miss by a mile. Spinning around, Nick broke into a sprint to get away from the wolf chasing after him. "Wolford's gone savage!" He cried into the radio, lungs burning as he found himself in another chase, but now in a desperate one for his life.
"What?! Nick, what's happening?"
Wasn't what he just said enough?
"Wolford's savage!" Nick shouted into the radio again as he ran. "Like Nighthowlers!"
"Shi- We're coming to you!"
"Negative! I'm coming to you!" Damn it was hard to talk and run away from a savage wolf at the same time. Nick ran past a door, slamming it shut behind him. However, instead of blocking Wolford, the savage wolf slammed it right back open through shear momentum alone, emerging disoriented and shaking in pain, but still very much in the same corridor as Nick.
The fox stared in disbelief as Wolford returned his attention to him. "Be ready to tranq him when I bring him to you," he transmitted over, resuming the run before Wolford could fully regain his bearings.
"Nick!"
Won't they shut up and just listen for once? "Just do it!"
With a viscous growl from behind him, the chase was back on.
