Chapter 15
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"Doug Ramses?" Skye asked, immediately drawing the sheeps ire.
"That's Dr Ramses or Doug Ramses PHD, fox," he spoke, crossing his hooves. "Despite your kinds disregard for such things, you should acknowledge my academic achievements."
Skye turned to him and gave a big wide smile, before grabbing the cell door, pushing it shut, and then glaring daggers at her sister. "Doug Ramses."
"PHD," she clarified.
The swift fox winced, eyes welded shut and paws up and clutching as some kind of frustrated hiss came out of her, the English language no longer capable of expressing the scope of her thoughts. "Why… didn't you just get cussing Bellwether too?"
Lt Vixen raised a coy eyebrow. "Do you think she has the required skill set?"
"Do you really think that's the issue here!" Skye yelled.
A soft mumbling came from behind the cell wall, Jack letting out a slight guffaw. Both vixen's turned to him. "What did he say, Jack?"
"Oh… uh…"
Skye crossed her paws. "Come on, Jacky Wa…"
"-'It is to those who actually care about skills,'" he parroted out.
Skye let her right ear tick down, before looking at her sister. "For a start, within one minute he's already making jokes about me being unskilled, uneducated, and let's face it, both of us know why. It begins with F, has three letters, rhymes with box and is something he thinks shouldn't exist."
There was a jolt as the feeding slot of the door was slid open slightly, revealing a little crack for him to speak out of. "Okay, I kind of resent that. It's uneducated slander that I think you shouldn't exist. It's just that I think your kind and their society damaging behaviour needs to be exposed, controlled, limited and compensated for. And when you spend this first minute engaging in anti-intellectual diminishment, disparaging those who put long hours of effort and work into both physical training and academic research, due to your bias towards parasitic zero-sum short termist get rich quick 'take what others build' Harry Lion-esque neo-predist social Darwinism, I don't think I'm too unfounded. I presume, at least. Huh, what does the hare think?"
Jack blinked. "I… You darted mammals with Nighthowlers, yes?"
From the look of it, he shrugged. "I don't deny my political activism, no. Not that the previous wardens acknowledge that as such and let me wear my own clothes. I was pondering a hunger strike, maybe writing a song about the historic pride and dignity of our struggle, to leak out and have sung to the tune of a Canidean folk artist's song about a tragic naval disaster or something in that vein. But what do you think?"
"Darting is bad. You be bad."
"Well," he said, calmly as ever. "Have you ever considered that the ends justify the means? You know, I sort of rationalised this as a trolley problem like situation, one in which the damage caused by switching the tracks…" Skye walked over and jammed the feeding slot closed, and from Doug's following tone she could hear his eyes rolling. "You know one day someone should introduce the 'not anti-intellectual' vixen to the concept of irony."
Skye didn't bother to reply, instead boring her eyes into her sister. "Is this some long planned prank?"
"Prank? Me?" she smirked, waving her paw back at herself. "When would I ever…"
"The time you showed pictures of me with my tail stuck in the vacuum cleaner hose at show and tell?"
"Hmmmm, that was after you spent several days trying to stick doritoros into my ears."
"Not stick, fit. -After you tried and did stick some dice up my nostrils. At least the doritoros and your ears were the same shape. And..." Closing her eyes in frustration, Skye threw her paws out. "Can you just explain the thought process behind you, a fox, hiring Doug, the howler darter, Ramses!"
"PHD…" came a muffled shout from behind the door, followed by some mumbling.
Skye turned to the door. "Josef Menigel had one too, but sometimes you do things that make mammals not give a cuss anymore."
She shook her head and turned back to Lt Vixen, only for the feeding slot to slide open again. "Okay, now that hedgehog did deserve to lose his Doctor status, okay? I don't."
Skye narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm failing to see much difference."
"Difference?" Doug asked, scoffing. "You're even more disingenuous than I thought. Or more stupid. Both have an equal probability. Menigel's experiments were truly awful. Based on pseudoscience, poor control groups, riddled with sources of inaccuracies throughout, terrible experiment planning, shocking failure to record findings, awful failure to verify, further test and confirm what few potential findings he did have… You know, sometimes there's laziness, and then sometimes there's mammals just trying to give science a bad name."
"Why am I surprised you missed that point?" Skye asked, up into the air. "And even on that point, how was turning mammals into savages any better?"
"Tchhh…" he scoffed, mockingly. "Because I didn't call it science. Social engineering at most, but I don't tend to go around calling things what they're not. It's not honest you know, not that you do given throughout all this you've been in the habit of calling me all…"
Once more, Skye shut off the feeding slot, tail frizzed as she now glared at her sister. "The mammal with a doctorate called Doug Ramses…"
"That's using even more words," he muffled out. "It's relatively amusing that you're now cutting off your muzzle to spite your face…"
"-What was your thought process when you decided that he would be the mammal we'd be relying on, our lives in his hooves?"
She smiled and began listing them off. "That he served for ten years and was a highly decorated sharp-shooter and field agent, that he then went on and achieved a PHD in biochemistry with applications towards medicine development. A very rigorous and mentally taxing line of study that he excelled in…"
"THANK-YOU…"
"And that with me offering a potential shortcut out of his current, ah…" She smiled, steepling her fingers. "Legal issues, he would be most inclined to join our operation, bringing his skills in, and knowing that failure and or betrayal could carry the absolute harshest of penalties. All making a candidate who has every reason to devote his enormous wealth of knowledge and experience onto our side."
"And if he decides to betray us anyway, given that his entire legal issue comes from drugging predators with his homemade savage serum to try and make us the most hated mammals in society?"
"Well," she said, turning to Jack. "If this is a Zooicide squad, what's the standard approach for maintaining loyalty?"
The hare, blinking and jolting upright, put his finger up. "Head exploder chips!"
"Naturally impossible, of course," Lt Vixen said. "They'd never get past the ethics committee. However, a few of his own inventions, if repurposed, could be…"
She opened the door once more, as Doug stepped out. He looked down at Skye, disinterested, before a nodding prompt from Lt Vixen got him to raise the wool up from over his neck. The swift fox couldn't help but let her eyes widen as she saw the strap fixed tight around the sheep's neck.
"You've got him in a shock collar," she said, tail ducking between her legs. "I'd heard rumours about them, but…"
"I was never able to get the final TAME design past the prototype stages, though had I more time, before I was so rudely interrupted, then the behaviour monitoring and automatic adjustment systems would almost certainly be ready and operational. Not that I had convinced other wets in the group about their cruciality to furthering our goals, yet. Nor those militants enamoured with exile or extinction that those methods were unfeasible given international pressure. I was kind of a stuck in the middle pragmatic centrist in the grand scheme of things, if that makes you feel better or something. As it is, this is just my beta revision, designed for remote operation of targets of interest."
"And I," Lt Vixen said, holding up a remote, "along with a few remote monitoring agents, have the remotes!"
Skye looked between them before shaking her head. "You know, on principle, I should be against this. But as it's literally his own invention that he wanted to force on all of us…" She stepped up to him, eyes narrow, and jabbed him in the collar. "That's karma."
"Well I'd have to disagree with that," he said, shrugging. "For a start, that silent hare there wouldn't be in one. Moreover, as said and not listened to, this was meant to be a prototype, whereas the actual final version was designed to help mammals like you purge yourself of your aggressive and dangerous urges, ideals and desires."
"So," Skye said, crossing her paws and letting an eyebrow tick up. "If you, say, were presented with a version that helped you purge yourself of your speciesist ideas, you'd…"
"Well that depends on who programmed it and what you define as speciesist. And given the cultural norm of your kind, adjusting and twisting the definitions in language to redefine our normal, and-or, protective behaviour as such… I'd have to decline, given how I'd be getting shocked for things like pointing out your own hypocrisy. I could really do with a hot foamy latte right now."
Huffing, Skye turned down to face Jack. "Okay, my sister obviously thinks she can handle this mammal."
"-Now that's just being rude…"
"But… Jack… If you want to carry on on this path…" She closed her eyes, breathed in, and breathed out, before getting down on one knee, holding his paw. "Do you absolutely, positively, with every fibre of your being believe that she's making the right call, and that sheep won't just stick two bullets in your backs and run off."
"-You act as if I impulsively act on hate," Doug huffed. "Your projection aside, betrayal would mean a return to dying behind bars, which isn't the most pleasant prospect. Have you ever considered that despite our political disagreements, we might both be benefitting here from mutual cooperation?"
"Do you believe he's being sincere?" Skye asked.
"Well," Jack said, looking over at him. "My gut is saying that he isn't acting…"
"Jack…"
"Let the prey make their own decisions for once, without criticising and undermining their self worth, why don't you?"
The hare breathed in and out, before looking at Lt Vixen. "What… What if he manages to get it off."
She smiled. "That's why I have one on each of his limbs!"
"I had spares," he muttered, showing off the shock bracelets and shock anklets
Jack nodded. "So, you've thought of everything then. I'm… still onboard!"
"Are you sure? Are you certain?" Skye asked, ignoring Doug's tutting.
"Well, I'm guessing I'll mainly be handling the talky bits, he the action bits, so not like there'll be much of a chance we're stuck together and he can do something, right?"
"Exactly right," Lt Vixen said. "Your skills are improvisation, integration and working under cover. Dr Ramses skills are being point blank lethal, and as a scientific advisor, of course. One of you is my rock, the other my scissors. When one is in danger, they get pulled in, and the other deployed." She turned to Skye. "I know what I'm doing, Sis. You can trust me."
"Maybe, maybe," she muttered, looking over at Doug. "As for some others though."
"I'd appreciate it if you used my name and title, thank you."
"Well, we'll see how it goes," Jack said, paws out. "If things start going iffy… Well, I can get out in a jiffy!"
Doug gave out a short, sharp, chuckle, smiling for a second.
Skye just looked unamused. "Fine," she said, "I'll be doing the same then, I guess."
"Good…" Lt Vixen said, smiling as she looked between them. "I always like it when a team comes together. Right… Jack, you're booked in for some self defence training, followed by arms, which will have you partnered with Dr Ramses. As for you Skye, we have all that legal stuff Jack did to get through, so…"
She waved her paw in the air and the guard from earlier came up, gesturing for Doug and Jack to follow along, which they did.
Lt Vixen and Skye began following along but, as the door closed, the two of them alone for a second, the swift fox turned on one heel and planted herself in front of her sister, glaring up at her. "I don't trust him."
She smiled. "So I gathered."
Skye closed her eyes and shook her head. "I think you're playing with fire here, I think whatever big successes you had before have finally got to your head, I didn't like Inspector Fox's put downs of you but right now I'm beginning to reconsider them, I…" She breathed in and out. "Personally, I want to do this even less now. But, pragmatically, I'm stuck in this more than ever. Just like old times, I'm the big sister in charge of keeping you safe. Only this time, there's a hare I quite like alongside you. And, if I end up saving you from that sheep… Well, you better get used to the phrase 'I told you so' because, if you haven't gotten yourself… Well, you know who tried to warn you!"
She cut herself off, panting in and out, fur on end.
Lt Vixen just walked past, waving her on. Skye, tagging along, followed her into what seemed like a surveillance room, filled with numerous computer screens. "Sit," she said, pointing to a chair.
And, with that, the screens flicked on.
"What's this?" Skye asked, looking around.
"You really don't think this was a spur of the moment thing, right?" Lt Vixen said. "There were half a dozen or so mammals, all ex-forces now criminals, we had shortlisted for our 'redemption' programme. All vetted, all analysed, all studied. From here, you can access three months of due diligence on Dr Doug Ramses." She smiled. "Knock yourself out." And with that, she walked out, leaving Skye with the access to the files.
The swift fox shook her head. So maybe her sister did know what she was doing. But, even if she herself wasn't a mammals mammal, she was going to get to know that sheep inside and out, and make sure that if he was about to make a move, she'd see it three steps ahead.
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"You know," Dr Silverfox mused. "The second one said she was related to you."
Turning a notepad page, Carmelita's head tilted slightly. "This Carmen Sandiego Fox?"
He nodded. "Not that I can say much about her. She came in, said the mammal I'd just talked to couldn't been trusted, mentioned something about this air pirate who's dead… And then ran off after her."
Carm silently noted to herself that maybe, just maybe, 'Carmen' and her pals had caught up to one of their enemies not too long ago. She silently hoped that if that was the case, they'd had better luck in finding intel. In which case…
She shook her head. Finish talking to the good Doctor first, then think this through. And that she did. Learning more about this work that they seemed to be interested in, the Efrafan's and their… or rather their version of literal satanists, temple buried in the foothills of Mt Ararat. Tales of past excavations, of kings and warriors and of the ghostly demon Keehar…
She felt her fur prick up, beja vu all over.
Different culture, different age, but everything just rhymed with what she'd seen in those frozen caverns and halls beneath the icy wastes in Svalbard.
Bolvangar, the fields of evil, there.
Nildelienes, the hawks home, here.
She wrapped up, letting the kindly old platinum fox remain happy in his ignorance as she stepped out and nodded to Nick and Judy.
"Got what you need?" the bunny asked.
"Si," she nodded, smiling. "A few interesting things, certainly."
"In that case then, let's get to your polar bear," Nick announced, leading them on, Carmelita letting her thoughts stew in her head. She was more thankful for their insistence on coming here first than she intended to lead on.
And far more worried too.
What had been worries and fears in the back of her mind were growing into grim certainties, ones which meant that Rattigan and whoever was aiding him had to be stopped and had to be put to an end before their own greed and idiocy…
"You okay there, Carmelita?" Nick asked.
"Si," she brushed off. "Just a small headache."
A lie, but one that gave her cover. Enough that, for a second, she fully considered following through on Judy's offer of some Thylanol to add more credence to it.
Keep it clean, keep it safe, the chances were she'd got these two into more trouble than she had ever feared doing already.
At the very least though, she could put a stop to it.
And they were being respectful.
No more questions about Sly, for a start.
'Which is a shame, really. Given that I'm a very questionable character," she imagined him saying, standing across the lift and slumped back into the corner. Not in his interpol gear or one of his dashing black suits, but his old thieving gear, hooked cane on his back poking out and his brimmed blue hat covering his face, up until he lifted it up just enough for his hazel eyes to look into her as he smirked.
How was it, she sadly mused, that old Ringtail had managed to look the most dashing, slick and stylish in objectively the most ridiculous outfit possible. Blue form fitting shirt with a bright yellow collar, blue gloves with yellow cuffs, tight fitting grey lycra shorts that ended higher up than the flaps of his top-wear. She couldn't help but smile a little. So many who she'd questioned during a 'clean up' following one of his heists had mentioned a 'pantsless procyonid' running amock. When she'd finally asked him about why he had bottom-wear so short, and for that matter the same colour as his body fur, he'd joked that the second of shock brought on by seeing a seemingly pantsless raccoon coming in the knock you out tended to be enough time for the seemingly pantsless raccoon to knock them out.
Well, it had sounded like a joke, but she knew that it wasn't.
'Besides,' she imagined him saying. 'Blue and yellow. Those sound like cop colours to me, no wonder you found them irresistible.'
Gracias, subconscious, she mused to herself. One enigma down.
If only she could solve one of the many others she was juggling, like lit bombs above her head.
'Well, you know what to do, don't you, he 'said', voice hardening as he went into the old Cooper no nonsense monologuing mode. You know what Rattigan's doing. It's obvious. He's a megalomaniac with an obsession with power and an ego so big he really thinks he can come up on top of this stuff, just like someone else you knew.' He shook his head and pointed the tip of his cane at her. 'You have to take him down.'
I have to work out where he is first, she grumbled.
'Okay, and how did you work these things out before?'
Her eyes narrowed. 'I followed you and arrested the beaten up criminal you left behind.'
His eyes widened and he gave one of his goofy 'oops, my bad' grins.
The ping of them reaching the ground floor cut them off, and out they filed. Past a family of black anoa buffalo walking in. One of them, a little girl, paused and looked down, Carmeltia catching her eye. She raised up one of her boots, giving it a wiggle, and smiled as the girl carried on off with her family, begging for her own pair.
She wasn't sure why shoes or boots weren't really a thing in Zootopia, but that was the case, and she was happy keeping her own pair. After all, they were going to Tundratown next, the chances of her taking them off about the same as having good thoughts about Neyla.
And there was someone she was not going to imagine again…
Except (somehow) over Sly's knee, tail up, getting a tanning session with the cooper cane followed by a shock speciality from her own weapon..
Satisfying, yes, but right now she had to focus. It wasn't like Sly (having stolen and using her intel, mind you) was leading the charge, her hunting him down and doing damage control at the same time. She had to lead it, and this time she had no intel. It wasn't like there…
She froze, blinking. "Nick?"
"Yes," he said, looking back.
"What do you know about the mammals who handed in that goat? Or 'Carmen' for that matter?"
He shook his head. "About as much as you do. We face recognised 'Slylock' to whoever it was that imitated Kris to try and keep him in jail for longer. Now Carmen might be against him, or putting my 'sneaky'cap on, they might be on the same side, Carmen trying to use reverse psychology or something. And they might be on Rattigan's side, or opposed to him, or who knows. We just call them 'Those who operate in the shadows."
"Though, if they were the ones who handed in the goat…"
"Well, unless it's part of some wacky tactical seven-D chess move, I'm pretty sure that puts them against Ratty… If it was them."
"Right," she said, bringing her phone out. Dialing in, she waited for a second, before... "Hola Dave. Is Basil there… Good! Right, we can't turn our goat against his former boss. But, what if we try and ask him about his enemies?"
…
"-Those who captured and dropped him off. They probably have more critical info than we do, and could help lead us to him."
…
"-Say we care because even though he's accused of these crimes, he still has rights, and those who attacked him and tied him up need to face justice too."
…
"Fingers crossed." She hung up, looking forward. Nick was looking back, an impressed look on his muzzle, as had Judy in the mirror. "I see what you're doing there," he said.
"Si," she said, pausing as the world blacked out around them, the flashing of orange lights racing past as they bored under the border mountains between two of the districts.
"Still," Judy said, a bit of concern in her voice. "Going after those going after who we're going after? It doesn't feel…"
"The enemy of our enemy isn't our friend," Carmelita reminded her. "After all, why do they feel they need to remain 'In the Shadows' for all this? What are they hiding? What ulterior motives do they have? For all we know, they're an even bigger threat than the one we know. They're an unknown factor, who could be the key to this, and if the goat decides to talk about them… Well, he may just give us the silent treatment again, but anything is worth a shot."
"I get you," Judy said. "If they were the good guys, what reason would they have for not working with us to get rid of this threat? "
"General distrust of the authority and disdain of the police," Nick said into the air.
'Or they just don't want you coppers crimping on their style,' 'Sly' sassed from beside the police inspector. She turned and, realising just where he was seated, gave him a smug look. After all, she always said she'd get him in here. A few seconds to work out why she was in such a happy mood and he narrowed his eyes. 'Imagining me back in here doesn't count.'
She now imagined him in pawcuffs, arms behind his back..
'Ah, the long arm of the law. You know their agents are the best when they can only meet their promises in their imagination.'
And now he was in black and white stripes, trousers, top and cap. Which she would swear to her dying breath really did suit him better than any other outfit.
'Making up for your failures on a figment of your imagination I see. Truly the sign of a very self satisfied mammal. '
Apply muzzle. Extra tight fit for him. Extra thick metal wires and rivet studded straps, for her.
He gave her a deathglare, arms folding hard in front of him before she remembered that they were still cuffed, flashing them back to their rightful place. 'N-thin' lse?'
Left leg in a ball and chain, a big red 'escape risk' (albeit relabelled to 'Naughty Coon') tracker tag pierced into his right ear, already twitching and flicking. And that long banded tail of his, fur flowing in the breeze, tied to the back of his muzzle strap to keep it up, tall and straight… And the area below it denied any chance of modesty or protective cover.
Tis iz allmst r frd annvrsry all o-vr gen.
Almost? She thought, before her eyes widened and she imagined something of her own.
Crm…?
Put dwn te ping png paddle…
Crm..
Crm Plz!
Crm!
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Looking in the mirror, Judy saw a very happy tail wagging vixen in the back seat and couldn't help but wonder what cute and adorable little thoughts she was imagining.
Any further discussion was pulled off as they shot into the bright light of Tundratown and headed off into one of its most exclusive residential areas. Large well portioned chalets amongst the snow, large stone walled gardens, and heavy, heavy security.
Judy felt a flash of worry, guilt, fear and sympathy as she observed one especially big residence down the road. One both she and Nick were once taken to, almost died in, and then attended a wedding reception at.
That had been one heckuva night, soon to be rounded off by a savage jaguar chase in the high limbs of the rainforest district.
But now, just a simple housecall.
Checking the address, they pulled up, Judy hopping out and jumping up to the doorbell.
…
She pressed it again, before looking around and pausing. A fresh layer of crisp snow covered the garden, but over one square in the driveway it was thin enough to see the black of the tarmac under. And from the square, a set of tire tracks pulled back and then raced off.
"Carrot sticks."
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Back at Dr Silverfox's apartment, the platinum furred vulpine was sitting down and rubbing his head. More questions, more unresolved answers, more confusion about what was going on out there.
And just why did it involve him and his work?
What was so important about it, that whoever it was wanted to use his son as a bargaining chip.
Leverage.
The price of his complicity.
…
He wasn't any of those things.
His name was Kristofferson Emmanuel Silverfox, and he was his precious little kit.
He sighed. His brother in law said he was back at his cousin's place, and would be getting dropped off here soon.
And the sooner the better.
Because right now, thanks to those mammals out there, he couldn't help but worry just a bit when his son was not with him. Even if he was with friends or family…
Those things weren't sacred to those mammals out there, whoever they were, whatever they wanted from him and his knowledge.
He felt himself growl a bit. Dammit, if they'd have just come up and asked him or whatever, the chances were that yes, he'd have done just that. No questions asked. He was proud of his work, and loved sharing it, so were these crooks just too mentally unhinged to consider the fact he'd do… whatever it was for them… without some ulterior motive?
Unless of course it was something so objectively criminal that he'd have backed out anyway. Robbing a bank, or museum? Was that what they were planning?
Or were they doing something he couldn't comprehend, Slylock and…
He paused.
Well, 'Slylock', whoever he was, certainly seemed to just be trying to talk to him, and he'd let out a whole bunch of information. Information they'd pounced on. He almost sent even more their way, only for 'Carmen' to follow up and say no.
So, some opposed to Slylock and his ilk were out there too, and had promptly raced off, on their tail.
He shook his head, only to be broken off by a knock on the door. His ears perked up, it must have been Kris back from his outing with Ash. If they'd found a karate teacher or something, then that would be good. He just hoped he found something that…
He broke off as he realised that he hadn't heard the beep of him using his tag to get into the building. Sure, chances were he missed it, but…
He checked the peep hole, before moving over to the camera feed to outside his front door to double check.
And yup, another mysterious mammal playing for his attention. This time, a great big wolf complete with an eyepatch.
Was this one of them?
Well, he thought, eyes narrowing. If it was, he could fight back dammit! He scooted off to a nearby cupboard, leaning behind the door so his voice would be muffled somewhat. "I'm in the shower. Just a sec!"
"Yeah, take aaalllll the time you need," the wolf said in a long, deep drawn out voice. "I can wait."
Dr Silverfox couldn't help but smile as he brought his phone up to his mouth and spoke. "Wilde?"
"Yeah?" came the voice from the other side.
"There's a suspicious looking wolf outside my door. I'm going to stall him there, you can get back here and bring him in."
"Glad to know you think of us that highly. But we put some cars on a close rotation nearby just for this. I'll get Clawhauser to send them in for the kill!"
He slapped his head and shook it. "Yes. Forgot. Right, I'll just stall him outside my door."
And with that he hung up, walking over. "Right, coming!" he said, giving another pause to glance at the video screen. "Who are you?"
"Journalist," he said, as Dr Silverfox noticed a briefcase in his paws. "Wanted to talk the talk, you know what I mean."
"I… no," he said.
"You know all the crap you and your family has been through recently?"
Dr Silverfox scowled, "I don't need to be reminded."
"Well, I happen to come from a group of people really interested in that kind of stuff. -Interested in stopping it, naturally. Anyways… I thought you and me could have a little chit-chat over it."
Dr Silverfox's phone pinged and, looking at it, he felt his heart trip over itself. 'Something blocking the radios nearby. Looks like we will be coming to collar him.' The fox's ears peeled back and tail dropped between his legs as he took a breath in and out to steady himself and spoke out.
"I'd rather not."
"Oh, and why not?" he asked.
"Because I've had a lot of mammals with ulterior motives come knocking on my door in the past," he said, eyes narrowing. "And I'd rather avoid it. I'd rather keep to talking with the friends, family, and cops I know."
Outside, the wolf chuckled. "You know, not a bad move."
"Glad you could agree," he said.
"Yeah, been through a lot of reeeaallll shady acquaintances and meetings in the past. Some evil squirrels here, some non-mammals there… Oooh, and one particularly nasty monkey guy. You know, I think I really like this city. You know why, it seems that monkeys don't. It's a nice breath of fresh air."
"Must be an interesting monkey to put you off several hundred different species," Dr Silverfox replied, crossing his paws.
"Oh, interesting? Nah, he just paid good. Real good." Looking through the screen, the fox couldn't help but see a distinct look of distaste grow across the mammals face.
"Enough to make up for being a bad boss then?"
"Yeah…" he pondered. "And no… Not like I had much choice in that particular affair given my previous… experience and reputation. -Say, you're in academia, right?"
"Right."
"Well think of it like that. Not much real variety in who you can be employed by in the life you choose."
"I suppose not," he murmured. "Bet you're glad to be rid of him then."
"Ha, no. You don't get rid of someone like that. Let's just say I'm on a very very long leash that one day will be pulled back in. One day."
"So, you're on a long term researching project," Dr Silverfox said, eyes narrowing only to widen as a far more enthusiastic than expected reply came through the door.
"You know what? That explains it pretty nicely, thank you." Outside, his paws were crossed and he was nodding. "So… Would you be interested in helping a handsome wolfy boy like me out, or?"
Dr Silverfox winced. Back to this, he had to stall him more, for however long it would take. But, presuming this guy was with the others, if he could just keep it to what they knew. "What I said before still counts," he said. "All these strange mammals, trying to ask me stuff. Why? Why? I don't know, but it's all this and that about my research, or…" He left it unsaid, as the wolf took the bait.
"Oh, what kind of research?"
"Don't you know?"
"No."
"I'd have thought you would."
"Well, it just so happens I don't."
Thinking for a second about a reply, a beeping on his intercom went off and his eyes were drawn down… And froze, followed by the rest of him.
Kris was using his security chip to get into the front door, his uncle trailing just behind. Dr Silverfox closed his eyes and shook right up. Cussing heck, how did he forget!? And he couldn't just call back into the intercom, he…
Grabbing his phone, he opened up the messenger and began typing in 'Danger'.
"Uh, hello in there…?"
He flicked back up to the door, and then down to the intercom. The wolf stood there, arms crossed, head dangerously wandering as he gazed about. "Sorry about that, just got pinged by an email from work," he said, trying to make sure his voice was as unpanicked as possible, and failing miserably. "-Ha, back to our talk about crappy bosses. They're nothing compared to crappy grant managers…"
"Right, right," he mused off, rolling his eyes.
His phone pinged back. 'Got out on floor below. What's the problem?"
"-At least your boss wasn't a…" the wolf carried on, only to break down into a chuckle. "You know this is a bit of a linguistic issue. I'd say nepotist, but that makes it sound like he liked his nephew. Say, you've got a son, right?"
"That was kind of the crux of this whole problem thing," Dr Silverfox replied, as he furiously texted in. 'Strange wolf at door, cops on way.'
"Ah, yeah! Well, what would you call it if you found your offspring or closest to thereof a general failure to live up to everything your high and mightiness liked about themselves…Nothing more than a meaningless pointless time wasting distraction that requires occasional food and emotional input. But you then make your best… employees, go around babysitting him on dangerous work where he's nothing but a liability… So he can indulge in his liability-inducing fantasy that he's an ace like the rest of us… -Which by that I naturally mean me, but…"
"Doesn't really sound like a good adult figure," Dr Silverfox said.
"I'll say, and that makes this whole thing even trickier…You get angry at the kid, who's a reeeaalll snot nose to boot. But at the same time, you kind of have to remember that it's all his fathers fault and he's technically a victim… yadda yadda… But you still really want to just slap the kid sidewise till you get the jerk out of him!"
"Uh-hu," he said, as his phone pinged. He almost slapped himself. 'Uncle has gone to have a look.' And right there on the security screen, off in the corner, he could see his brother-in-law's head poke around the corner. Thankfully the wolf was distracted enough not to see him, but...
"-I mean we were facing off against this other group led by the most annoying goody toe-shoes I'm an action… -journalist, fox you could imagine. So pretentiousness there. Pretentiousness at home. At least some of my more frequent mammals of interest and others in my current gig have been, oh… Tolerable. And in a few cases very amusing to wind up."
"Yeah," Dr Silverfox said. "Like those evil squirrels."
"Oh those two?" he asked. "Oh, I mean technically they're evil… But honestly they were just cute. Cute, stupidly naive, but cute. They really think that they can win with the rest of this planet against them. Aww. Too bad."
"Uh-hu," Dr Silverfox said, fidgeting with his fingers as his phone beeped again. Nick again. 'Into rainforest, almost there!' "Well, seems like you've known plenty of fascinating mammals around the world and in your travels."
"-Must be the same for you," he cut in, smiling.
"Yeah! Armyeenia… uhhh…"
"Was that what any of the others wanted to talk about?" he asked.
"Yeah," he said. "That. Neildelienes. Efrafans."
"Okay, okay," he said, as outside he brought up his phone.
"You know," he carried on, smiling. "It's a fascinating culture. It's no wonder those others seemed so hell bent on wanting me to help them with it, or… -Well, the first one did. The second one told me to never never speak to the first one." He chuckled. "You know, if you were involved with one of those, I wonder which one it would be."
"I'm just a third party," he smiled, putting his phone away. "Always have been. -Just, one final question. In that site, did you ever see something that looked like this?"
Out of his pocket he pulled out what looked like a ring box but, on opening it, something else was inside. A small coppery pendant, striking William with Deja Vu. "N-n-no," he said, shaking his head. "Nothing like that."
"Are you sure?" he pressed.
A text came through. Nick. 'Just a few minutes.'
"Dr Silverfox," he said, pulling something out of his pocket and sticking it on the door. "This is a very important matter."
"No. I swear…"
"Funny enough, it sounded like you were scared…" he pressed, looking up into the camera, his eyes narrowing. "Was it one of those two who had it? Asked about it?"
"No," he said, as what looked like a detonator pin went in. The wolf stepped back, and Mr Fox began sneaking forward. Unarmed. Outgunned…
"Or?" the wolf asked. "What about friends? What about family?" He paused. "What about yourself?"
There was a swoosh from outside, and a text arrived. 'We're here!'
The wolf huffed. "Seems like this interview has come to a close." And then he stepped forward, picked up the stuff from the door, and turned to look straight at Mr Fox, mid paw-reach.
They froze.
And then the wolf chuckled. "Awwww… Cute widdle hero animal again? Ah, pack it in foxy. Here, take some play-doe and my pen nib too."
He thrust it into Mr Fox's paws, at which point he immediately cut in front of the wolf. "Wolf…"
"Species and name," he smirked. "So gooood I have it twice."
"Big, strong, powerful, thinking you can always steal the limelight, always take the attention away from everyone else." He crossed his paws. "Well, just because you think us foxes are out of the game doesn't mean we are. Be you wolves literal or metaphorical, I amongst foxes will be here to meet your match!"
"Acccck…" he groaned. "And I thought I left foxes like this behind. Now, uh, do me a favour will ya? I'm guessing you know the guy in there?"
"Yes I do! And I will defend him and…"
The wolf thrust the box under his nose. "Look what I got."
Mr Fox looked at it and snorted. "That polar bears necklace? Now, while your main concern should always be the fear of vulpine retribution, let me just say you've made an almost equally as dangerous…"
He was cut off as the wolf lunged over his head and raced down towards the stairs. Seconds later, the elevator door was dinging and Nick and Judy raced out. And as he opened the door and raced out to join them, down below Dr Silverfox heard the sound of flesh smashing against concrete and tile, and the yips of mammals in pain.
It was then he remembered with horror where his son was waiting.
.
Kris held himself back.
He'd been doing so before, even as his uncle went up, even as the vixen cop got into position, shock pistol drawn, and waited. But then, before she could even react, the wolf had leapt down. She'd moved her weapon to fire and leapt in his way, only for a mass of lupine fur and muscle to smash into her, tripping them up and taking them down the next flight of stairs in a rolling mass.
Despite a punch to the face and a swipe to the side, she did not let go of him.
"Help!" she barked, and Kris raced down the steps. On the next floor down, after turning the bend, they stood in a tackle, Carmelita's weapon lying off to the side. "Grab it!" she ordered.
He looked at it absently for a second, before the wolf gave it a kick away and pushed himself, vixen still in tow, down the next flight. By the sounds of cursing, she was the one taking all the hard hits.
Kris ran over and grabbed the thing. It was heavy, he didn't know how to use it, and looking down he followed them to the next floor, the same situation playing out. She with the wolf's head in a lock, his huge arms trying to tear her off as he got to his feet. "Shoot!" she ordered, as the wolf took off, still trying to rip her loose. He followed, but didn't know what to do. If he shot at them, he'd hit her, wouldn't he?
He'd hurt her, he'd injure her, he wasn't meant to do that. He couldn't!?
"I'll hit you," he called, as the wolf began to race ahead. Every turn around a corner had him further and further away, less and less time to properly take aim, to make sure he hit the right one, to make sure he didn't…
"I CAN COPE! JUST DO IT!
He turned and aimed, pulling the trigger as they clipped around a corner, and the gun hummed. Only for a fraction of a second, only for a moment, but in that time the young fox felt every fur on his body stand up, he sensed magnetic fields swing and buckle around him, he tasted metal on his tongue and his muscles shook. And then, in his arms, just a tiny kick back of force, as the gun shrieked out a barbed wire grating cackle of electricity, a blinding flash of light shooting out in front of him, racing forward and arcing onto bits of metal and setting alight dust in the air. It buzzed like ten thousand mosquitoes hovering by his ears and seemed to draw the light from the lights into it as it raced off into an empty space.
An empty space suddenly filled by a kicked off vixen, the wolf breaking free and racing off..
Kris recoiled in horror as her eyes turned, looked at him, looked at the blast, and then braced as it touched her chest and flowed into her body. She screamed, her limbs thrown out and sparks of electricity snapping from her feet onto the floor and her side onto the wall as she collided with it.
Kicking out like a cable snapping, she was thrown the other way and collapsed to the floor with a thud.
Kris dropped the gun, letting it roll and bump down the stairs, as Nick and Judy reached his back and froze.
"CARMELITA!" Judy yelled, as she smoked. As if it knew, a sprinkler up above, cap melted by a strand of lightning from the blast, began pouring onto her. The cold gave her a jolt, and she moaned as her limbs began shaking, fingers twitching, head slowly rising as the other two pulled her into a dry spot.
Kris, trembling, followed after. "I'm… I'm sorry! I didn't mean to, I… I…"
"Kris?" Nick asked, looking back. "What happened… Where's the wolf?"
"It… I…" He began to say, as his father and uncle reached them.
"What happened?" they both asked.
"Nothing…" came a new voice, as they turned to the frazzled vixen. Groaning a bit, she slumped up. "Nothing I haven't…" she groaned. "Felt before…" Taking a breath in and out, she managed a smile. "I said... I could cope."