Chapter 29

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"You know, I swear my little cub-cartoons say something like this would happen," the bandaged up polar bear said.

Sitting down and looking back, Lt Vixen smiled. "Our little kid cartoons were quite fun too. Of course, the big heroes would always find a way to bust the trapped guys out of the evil lair and save the day."

Vasily's eyes widened. "Da! Same with us."

The vixen chuckled. "I suppose this isn't quite the same though." Her tail came up into her paw, and she fidgeted with it a little. "I do hope I'm being a much nicer host than the evil villain of the week."

"Hmmmm…" the polar bear mused, looking around. Sat in a soft hospital style bed, he noted that the area was clean, clinical, and… "Is a lot more boring. No crazy torture devices or anything."

Lt Vixen let out a sharp laugh, one that even caught the attention of Skye, sitting behind a two way mirror at the time. "What kind of vixen do you take me as?"

"You know the three masseuses at The House of Cold?"

"No."

"Like those!"

"Describe them to me."

"Fluffy, white, wear skimpy pink bikini bottom and three sets of top each. One for each pair of… my English fail me. -Fox plugs! They give great massage, also deadly assassins, also bit dumb."

"Well, only one of those things sounds in common with what I am, and it's not one I think you can see straight away," the red fox said, sitting up and walking around. "Excuse me." She grabbed one of the bandages, stained a deep red, and after gloving up her paws she worked under it, making sure not to tug and rip at the fur. Then, grabbing a bottle of antiseptic. "This will probably sting."

"I am BIG BEAR!"

She dabbed it on, his face only getting more stoic.

"As said, am big bear. What, you expect some comic yell?"

"You'd be surprised how many you get," she smiled, tail wagging a little as she wrapped him up.

"You do lot of nursing?"

She looked up at him. "Qualified field medic," she said, a dose of pride in her voice. "Even did a tail amputation once. Big cat ignores tank rolling right behind him. Not pretty, though I was able to save most of it. I heard he now gets called Stumpy."

"This why little tails better."

From behind the mirror, there was a snort of approval. "Can confirm," Doug said, as Skye looked up to him.

"You know," the swift fox vixen said, "With her electing to treat him, I'm surprised you haven't made a dig on my sister thinking her field medic qualifications are better than yours."

His head tilted and he looked down, arms crossed. "I was in the shower trying to rinse off polar bear blood from my head wool, which he naturally assumed he could use as a sponge. The violation of my bodily autonomy aside, I'm happy for her to deal with the world's largest land predator, not me."

Skye nodded. "Bet you're happy he's getting sub-par treatment then," she said, looking away but keeping a slight eye on him.

"I mean, I hoped to be, but she's annoyingly good at it."

Skye let a tiny smile grow on her face. "Warming up to her then?"

He looked down at her. "In the same way I can appreciate the watercolour artwork of Adolf Hirschler, yes."

The smile vanished. "If you could kindly refrain from that comparison."

"Free speech."

"Doesn't make it appropriate though," Skye noted, looking out. "I mean, face it. She's not a crap tactician."

Her eyes darted up as a small chuckle seemed to escape from Doug's muzzle. Either way though, their current interaction was cut off as the polar bear raised his voice.

"You know you put me in bed here and treat me nice, but this could still be evil bad guy thing, no?"

Lt Vixen nodded. "That's why you can leave at any time."

He looked at her and laughed. "Good one! Good one!"

The red fox just gave a shrug. "Not sure what's funny about it. Jack?"

A door opening, the hare raced in. "Yup!"

"Our patient wants to leave. We'll have to use the blacked out car to protect the security of this place, but we can drop him off at Zootopia General." And with that, she handed Vasily a card. "My number," she smiled. And with that, she walked away, Jack coming up. "Right, this way, good citizen."

He looked on, pausing. "Okay, where is catch?"

The hare looked around. "No catch."

"Not here, no, but where is moment you spring trap on me, strap me to chair, and attach electric wires to my little Vasilys?"

"Well, from a very old production of a video of the erotic nature, I do know someone who knows someone…"

"Listen," Vasily cut off, pulling himself out of bed, feet going down. "I know how this work. You think me dumb?"

Jack looked up at the ceiling for a second, hopping on his toes. "More ungrateful."

"Pah," the bear snorted. "What you do for me?"

He raised a finger. "Save your life."

"Pah, all part of strange plot for whatever reason I guess," the bear said, standing up. Glancing around, eyes scanning for threats, he walked off.

"Did we even ask you what we wanted yet?"

"No, but…"

"I mean," Jack said, cutting in front of the bear. "We are kind of trying to work out who those wolves are, to get at their boss. And I thought those wolves were your enemies. They were trying to shoot at you."

"Well, they get wrong bear…"

"So, who's the right bear?"

Vasily's face grew angry as he leant down. "What, so you can bring him in, ice him?"

"Not at all. Well, maybe some protective custody…"

"Ha, fancy word."

"Okay," he huffed. "Let me use none-fancy words! Wolf want bear, we want wolf, bear know why wolf want bear. We keep bear safe, bear help trap wolf!"

"I…" Vasily began, only to shake his head, walking off. "Pah, no use telling you."

"Why not?" Jack asked, walking back. "Do you think it's too late? That we can't face this threat?"

He barked out a laugh, one so loud it sent Jack's ears down against the back of his head, paws halfway up to cover them as it slowly morphed into a faint, bitter, sob. "I ask friend, why he in so much danger? Why they want thing he has?" He trailed off. "And then friend tell me story. Long story. Mad story. Story I do not believe, you would not believe. So mad, so crazy… I refuse. Is not true! I refuse to believe."

He huffed, marching off, Jack walking after him. "Exit to the right."

"Then I go left."

"Okay, you can try, but I must warn you…"

"Oh, warn me what?" Vasily shouted, glaring back at Jack as he turned the corner and smashed hard into a wall.

"It's a dead end."

Grumbling, Vasily marched the other way, back past the hare.

"Even if I don't believe you, it would be a fun story. And it could be important," he continued, Vasily ignoring him. His ears went down, before bouncing back up again as his eyes widened. "Whatever that thing the wolves want, and wherever your friend hides, they can find him."

"He can find new place to hide."

"What, like your old one? Your super secret ice tunnels?" Jack asked. "They found that, didn't they?"

"Lucky chance."

"Trigonometry!"

Vasily paused, looking back, confused. "What?"

"Trigonometry!" he said again, even more sure.

There was a creak as the door behind him opened up, Skye leaning out and whispering loudly. "You mean triangulation!"

"Triangulation!"

"I… How…" the bear began.

"They have antenna things," Jack said. "Put them on high places, detect whatever your bear has on him, and then." He clicked his fingers. "Unless he's constantly on the move, they will find him, and they will kill him. And take his thing! Unless we find him first. We can then use it to trap them."

"No," Vasily said. "Let them live."

"Huh…? Don't you want vengeance…"

"Ideal world, yes," Vasily said, leaning down, paws out. "But not ideal world. If Ko… -my friend right, terrible world. World filled with evil, or was. If lie, he lie as truth obviously worse. That thing around neck is key to something. A terrible, terrible key, they must not have. No-one must have! Take it in, bury it in your Fort Ox with the gold or somewhere, let no-one have it!"

"So what, it's a key to a weapon system, or…" Jack began, only to be halted by a paw out.

"Maybe… Maybe…," Vasily said. "Most probably, but I not know. But, you get me? You understand?"

"Understand that these wolves must not have the thing the bear has?"

"That no-one should. That you should bury it, destroy if can, make sure no-one gets hold of it to use it?"

"I get that," Jack nodded.

"And the others?" Vasily pressed, glaring around. "You understand what you have to destroy. No use as weapon, no try to explore. No good can ever come, understand!"

"Yes," Jack said. "But as for why? No. You see, there's a very common trope in these kinds of things where the person refuses to give a certain bit of context, or keeps things quiet, and even if he supposedly has a good reason for not saying, let's face it we all know it's not being said to keep the tension going." He planted his paws on his hips, left foot tapping and stared the bear down. "And you know what, it's cruel but effective, in fiction. But this is real life, so come on! Give me all the juicy details!"

"No."

"Oh come on. I mean, just because I wanted to have a go at this espionage thing didn't mean I wanted all the tropes that come with it… I mean, the real tropey thing would be you decide to tell me right now only to get killed in some way before you can, but I'm sure that's not going to happen. So what do you have to worry about? Hmmm, let me think. Ah yes, those wolves getting to your friend!" The hare marched up and jabbed Vasily right in the knee…

His leg immediately kicking out on reflex and punting the hare across the room, landing right on his tail.

"Not-my-fault!"

"Urghhh… Is a fair cop" Jack groaned, standing up and rubbing his backside. "But we're the only friends you have right now."

"I think not."

"Well, what about your friend? Huh." Jack pressed, moving on. He smiled as he saw Vasily's ear flicker. "What friends does he have? Out there, running, alone, thinking he can hide but not knowing that he can't."

Vasily's face twisted and turned.

"And when he's dead, what will they use it for?"

The bear stood still for a second before finally slumping, sighing. "You want to truly know what that thing is? I guess you must ask my friend instead." He shrugged. "Though he might lie. I want to think he lie to me. I hope he lie, and that it just long and crazy story, full of monsters in the night and accidents sprung by evil, all to scare me off. But lie or not, that thing is dangerous. Maybe, if he thinks he can trust you, he can tell you the truth."

Jack nodded. "So, where is he?"

"I do not know. Swam out into the bay, after that?"

"His name?"

"Kozlov."

Jack blinked, stepping back, eyes wide and ears shooting up. "Kozlov, as in the one that used to work for Mr Big?"

"You know him!"

"I know someone who knows him," Jack said, only to pause, thinking. "And… Hmmmm… Hang on! The thing is a necklace, right?"

Vasily didn't speak, but Jack smiled as he saw his eyes widen.

"Then you can trust us! As allies of Judy Hopps, who he trusted before to keep it safe…"

"You say that," Vasily said, "but I see no Judy Hopps here."

"Uhhh… Different teams, same goal."

"Right," Vasily snorted. "But, you find Kozlov and keep him safe, right?"

"Right," Jack said. "Now, let's go."

The bear blinked. "Go where?"

"Out. To the hospital. You wanted to leave, didn't you?"

"Ohhhh… Right." Still unsure, he was led off.

Behind him, the door opened and Skye and Doug walked out, Lt Vixen walking up to them, tail tip up into her paws. "I must say," the red fox vixen said, looking at Skye. "He really is a natural."

She smiled, opening her mouth to speak, only for the sheep to run over her. "Eh, I wouldn't say that. I mean, it was a lot of meandering, almost friendly talk with no real sense of drive or intimidation. I mean, where was the screaming? The threats of torture? The 'we'll hunt you and your family down'. I really need a latte right now."

"Right away," Lt Vixen said, walking off, only to pause and turn around, a smile on her muzzle. "And Doug, maybe you should get those action films out of your head. I've always found that mammals are far more likely to give you what you want if you come on with a smile and a sense of trust, rather than anger and threats."

"Oh. So you were buttering him up before throwing him off into the beating room, right?"

She folded her arm. "Is it a fox thing or a military thing that you don't believe my promise to let him go was serious?"

"I mean, it's the thing where you want that info at any cost so why would you just let him walk?"

"Because I'd let him walk with my card, with my number, and the seed planted by Jack that those wolves will find his friend and attack again, and the only ones who have a chance at protecting him are us. Let him go, let him relax, let him think. He'll come to the right conclusion soon enough."

"And if he goes to the cops instead?"

"That's what the in-card tracker and microphone are for!" she chirped, turning and walking off.

Doug huffed, looking down at Skye. "Naturally the pred gets that while I'm made to wear shock collars. Pred favouritism, am I right?"

"Sure," Skye said, nodding her head. "Whatever you say."

"Uh, I have proof you know," he said. "Let me show you more of those anti-sheep vids. See if I can educate you more on what we face."

"Be my guest," she smiled.

"Sure," he huffed. "And maybe stop with the creepy gain your trust friendship act."

Her smile vanished. "Huh? How… -I mean, what are you talking about!?" She giggled and waved it off.

He just drew a blank. "For a fox, you're not very sneaky, you know. Tragic, really."

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'AtTenTiOn ZpD mAmMAls taCkliNg the CurrenT CraZily Complex Criminal conspiracy. If You want to Find the answerS, You might want to try 20-08 sEdOvA Street. someone very casE rElevAnt lives there. I Think. risk Of big Cat problems.

- DanNY the ChamPiOn.'

Judy put down the letter, scratching her head. "Why is it made with cut up newspaper clippings?"

Carmelita looked at her, her head tilting. "Uh, to protect his anonymity? I thought that was fairly obvious."

"But it's already an anonymous tip," the bunny pressed, "why would he need double anonymity or such? It's not as if we can't keep a secret."

Nick gave her a blank look. "Uh Fluff, didn't a lot of this start with a top secret undercover op being leaked to the general public?"

"I…" She began, her voice catching in her throat. "Okay, first off it wasn't the general public…"

"You're right, it was a protest crowd largely composed of big mean biker wolves with parent issues."

Carm's ears flicked up. "Okay, I want to know the story behind that one."

"Once I'm done knocking holes in my bunnies arguments, sure," Nick smiled, turning back to carry on.

"-Okay, maybe I do get that now," Judy pressed. "But, doesn't he have a printer, or a typewriter, or… something easier than cutting out pieces of newspaper and gluing them onto here?"

"Maybe he, or she, does," Nick said, smiling. "Don't go assuming their gender just yet Fluff. Regardless, there's a very good reason someone might do it that way."

"And what's that?"

"It's far cooler."

The bunny raised a finger to object, laying into Nick with a stern look, ears raised up. A second or two passed and the look melted, along with her ears as they drooped back down against her head.

From the driver's seat, Nick smirked. "Ah, don't you hate it when I'm right."

"Yes," she mumbled. "Absolutely. One-hundred percent."

"And besides," Nick said, ears perking up as he turned a corner and flipped his indicator. "Doing it that way does have one big advantage, for us at least."

Judy thought for a second, before smiling. "He might have left fur stuck in the glue!"

"Ha, ha," Nick smiled. "There's my bunny cop. And yup, if this is another 'confuse us' play by the bad guys, we can test their DNA and add it to the list!"

"And then?" Judy asked, smiling even as Nick put a paw out to flatten her ears down, pushing them out of the way of the mirror as he parallel parked. The fox looked at her quizzically.

"We… add it to the list." He shifted them forward and in. "If we knew what to do after that, we'd have already figured everything out wouldn't we?"

"I suppose you're right," Judy grumbled, moving to open the door, only to freeze. "Nick."

"Yeah…" the fox began, looking over. His jaw hit the floor. "That wolf…"

Judy nodded. "It is him!"

Carmelita blinked. "No… It's not. He has two eyes."

"Different wolf," Judy said, jumping out the door. The foxes followed. The front of a block of apartments rose up above them, and there, balancing on an unsteady ladder, was a wolf in blue jeans, a woolly moth-eaten afghan fleece, and a black beret. Red paintbrush in paw, he was trying to write something out on the tiles above the first floor, only to struggle to lean out to where he wanted to start. His humming of what sounded suspiciously like 'Oh Christmas tree' got a few notes louder as he managed to daub an up-facing arrow followed by an S, a P, an L, an I, a T, another T...

Nick and Judy just watch him, smug smiles on their face, while Carmelita, ear ticking, moved forward and looked down. "And he is?"

Both Zootopians rolled their eyes. "'Wolfy Smith.' The self proclaimed leader of the Troop Street Popular front."

The vixen cop groaned. "Urghhh… One of them." And with that she looked up, clearing her throat. "Ahem."

He jerked up, messing up the in-progress E, and turned, revealing a Che Gatovara T-shirt and black and white scarf. He looked down at the cops for a second, then leapt down and raced off. "YOU'LL NEVER CRUSH THE REVOLUTION! POWER TO THE PEOPLE!"

Nick and Judy flinched down as the scream of car brakes and blaring of horns rang out, a little concerned but then relaxing. Judy just smiled. "Ah, he never gets old."

Nick nodded, tapping the ladder. "Uh, Yote? You forgot this."

Carm watched as the pouting wolf marched back up, took the ladder, and then marched away. "He's a wolf."

Nick smiled. "Well observed. I see how you earned that Inspectors badge."

"You called him a coyote."

"I know."

"Why?"

"It's funny."

"How?"

"It annoys him."

"That makes it funny?"

"It does to me," Nick said, turning back to the building's main door. "It does to me." He looked down the list of doorbells and pressed number eight. There was a short pause, before...

"Hello?"

"Hi. ZPD. We got an anonymous tip that a mammal of interest to an important case was staying at your place. You don't happen to have a polar bear inside there, do you?"

There was a pause. "No. You've got the wrong address."

"Flat twenty, number eight, Sedova street?" Judy asked.

"That is this place, yes."

Carm walked over, looking at the tip sheet again and whispering to the pair. "Are you sure it's not flat number eight, twenty Sedova street."

"I mean it could be," Judy whispered back. "But I think number twenty is that megafauna building over there, which doesn't look big enough to have a number eight."

"Right," Nick whispered, turning back to the intercom. "No, no, we think this is the right place. At least according to our tip, of course. Now that might just be a great big smelly red herring, especially if it's by someone who doesn't like you who wants to get you in trouble. Now, you wouldn't know anyone who wants to get you in trouble, do you?"

There was a long pause, a soft murmuring, and then he spoke. "Come in."

The door clicked and Nick, smiling, pulled it open. "Ha ha! Success."

Judy and Carm followed, the bunny smiling. "The plot thickens, at least."

They slipped into the lift and rose up, exiting out to see door twenty at the back of the building. A short knock and a bespectacled pig looked out. "Hello?"

It was the same voice, Nick nodding and walking in, the others in tow. There seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary with the room, bar there being several more bookcases than usual. That and several piles of books and papers. "You're a writer?" Judy asked.

"Independent academic," he stressed. "Researching that which the current plassid and bought out system will not dare to sponsor."

Carmelita's ears rose and, looking around at a few of the titles, she crossed her paws and looked over. "We happened to spot a wolf outside painting…"

"Ugh, 'Wolfy'," he grumbled, grabbing some papers and putting them away, hard. "A red blooded 'anti-revisionist' too wedded to the old dogma to even consider that major decisions of a dictatorship of the proletariat need be ratified by a collective vote. Yet alone the benefits of a burrow-modelled organisational structure."

"Burrow modelled?" Judy asked.

He looked at her. "You're from Bunnyburrow, correct? I recognise the accent."

She nodded.

"As someone who believes in the collectivisation of mammalian production, industry and agriculture, and the need to run it efficiently, the organisation of burrows by their respective burrow families was always a source of great inspiration." He sighed. "If we could encourage and convince more individualistic species like your two partners to adopt such a model, we could wipe out the many issues that have hit collectivisation attempts in the past. But no, mammals like that wolf, already halfway there socially with their pack culture, are still convinced that the best replacement for a tyrannical private ownership of the means of production is a tyrannical political agent to whom all must bow. Usually himself."

Carmelita grinned. "So, you are like that wolf."

The pig threw down his papers and glared back, only to breathe in and calm himself. "Whatever differences there are between me and that self important leader of a so called 'popular front', they are of no concern here. You said an anonymous tip was filed, with my house on it."

Judy nodded, pulling the thing out and showing it to him. The pig read along with narrow eyes to begin with, before they widened slightly. "That's odd."

"What is?" Judy asked.

"If this was who I thought it was, then why would he say I have information… This doesn't seem like a set up, at least as far as I can see." He paused, only to hand the paper back. "I guess you can leave now."

"But, the letter?" Judy asked.

"I can only assume it's a prank," he said. "I mean, this case I might know more about. Tell me what it is, and I'll tell you what little I know."

"We've got a missing polar bear hunted by an evil rat, an evil fox, and an evil wolf," Carm summarised.

The pig scratched under his chin for a second before waving it off. "The only part even close to that is Wolfy out there. But if you honestly think he has enough intelligence or even drive to do anything, then you might just be dumber than he is."

"Yeah, scratch that one," Nick said. "I get the feeling he couldn't even put together a five minute plan. You though, now there's a mammal who knows how to take over the big Z and do the big C right this time, eh?"

The pig paused. "I suppose that's the common stereotype of my type, isn't it?" He turned back to his papers, Judy giving her partner a gentle 'keep in line' elbow in the side, not that the pig noticed. "As a matter of fact, I was once behind a far more peaceful attempt, what I and those who joined in hoped would be a first strike in educating the world that there really was a better path."

"You were involved in a commune once?" Carm asked

He nodded. "Indeed, though I'd always argue it was something grander than that. I suppose though at least you are more educated on the subject, Europeans always tend to be in my experience."

"Well I had some experience too," Judy said, stepping forward.

Nick, blinking, stared down at her. "W-w-wait a second? You, in a commune? Okay, am I about to hear about 'Judy Hopps: The bohemian college days she does not want to talk about' or something?"

The bunny laughed, only for her expression to go somewhat… serious. Depressed, even.

"Fluff?"

"There was a commune, out in Bunnyburrow, when I was a teenager. Out in the woods, a farmstead built for some beavers but bought out after the last of the family died. I think I bumped into a few of the new mammals from there once or twice. Then the news came through."

Nick looked on for a second, his head tilting. And then his eyes widened. "Wait, that's not…"

She nodded, as Carmelita spoke. "I am not familiar with this…"

Judy looked at her. "You've heard of the famous one, right, out in the jungle where the cult leader had them all drink kool aid laced with poison."

Carmelita nodded, her ears going back. "Sí..."

"This was like that. Well… they say it was. It might have all just been an accident. Everyone was gathered in the main barn, then there was a fire."

"-It was no accident." Their eyes all turned to the pig, a subdued anger in his face. "Their leader was a tyrant. He spoke well, he charmed mammals with his stories, his promises, even his horticulture… I guess it was a very mammalising thing, seeing him talk at length about rare crops and plants and trees and such. It put mammals at ease, made them trust him, made them think he knew what he was doing. Oh, he did, certainly. Not there though, it was only later that I realised just how much of it was nonsense, things he made up to make the science fit the themes and politics, all slotting into the grand worldview. All to let mammals put all their faith into him, over others who gave them cautious tales about why the grand utopia would be far harder than they expected."

He snorted, looking down and grinding a trotter into the floor, while Judy's ears rose up, the bunnies nose starting to twitch like mad. "You… You were one of them."

"One of them?" he said, looking into her eyes. "I started it! Started it with that madmammal, not that I knew he was like that at the time. Oh no, I fell for his charm and his smile, until one day before I knew it I was thrown out, chased away off into the distance as a traitor. All while he betrayed it further and further. Enriching himself, turning the mammals against each other, working some half to death! I suppose though that that one was one of the lucky few. A horse, he worked himself so hard he needed expensive physio therapy. His dear leader sold him into slavery instead. He was rescued, barely alive, from a farm and from what I gather is now a Zuber driver of all things. Still in therapy though. Ha, and to think he was the lucky one. As when things got too bad, when the outside authorities began to notice the missing taxes and all, when the heat was on? That fellow comrade convinced my brothers and sisters that the invasion was coming, got them all into a barn… And while none of us can prove it, I don't need proof to know that he locked the door, lit the match and either suffered with them or ran."

He pointed back at the piece of paper. "That's why I let you in. I thought maybe it was a message from him. Even if he's officially dead, there was never a conclusive body found for him. Still, I thought him dead too, up until I heard that I was being set up, blackmailed. He's the type to hold a grudge even after his supposed death."

The room was quiet, until Judy spoke. "What was his name?"

The pig snorted. "Unlike a certain wolf who wants to replace all names with numbers, no guesses for who's number one, back then we chose new names for ourselves. That horse? He used to box, so Boxxer. That monster of a leader I hate sharing a species with? Huh, I should have known he was trouble when he picked 'Napoleon.'"

"And you?"

"Snowball," he said. "My name was Snowball."