Chapter 39

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The fox looked at Duke some more before chuckling. "Oh don't tell me they hired you." He walked up and almost jabbed him in the chest. "Really. Really?" And then he faded off, thinking for a second, before leaning back. "You know what, I'm curious. What hidden talents do you have? Hmmm? What tricks up your sleeve do you have that wowed them over? What did we miss?" And with that he sat down and smiled. "You know what, yeah. Let's talk, friend."

"I ain't your friend, Foxy."

"Not yet, anyway."

"You really think it'll be that easy?" Duke asked, crossing his paws and looking up at the fox, relaxing back almost casually. "Go on then, do your thing."

He held himself there for a second or two before shrugging. "Why would you think it'd be that hard?"

The weasel blinked back. "I… -Well for one thing I'm a jerk!"

"Defensive, proud, maybe not the most social…" the mysterious fox began, palms opening out as he spoke out his train of thought.

"No. No, no, no," Duke huffed, eyes narrowing. He marched forward, jabbing a thumb back at himself as he went. "I don't think you get it. I am a pathetic nasty conmammal who ran half baked scams my entire adult life. And a good bit of the rest of it too! I've been in and out of jail so many times, they have a frickin' uniform box for me with all my personals for when I 'book in for the annual vacation'. And those ain't my words you understand? That's theirs, which I then yell back at and cuss them for, the power trippin' jerks. I ain't good, I don't do things as my heart tells me to, I am nobody's fool but my own. If I'd had my way all this city would be under Bellwethers hoof to this day, because I was too selfish to just give away a little bit of info I happened upon on the case. Because screw those guys trying to make the world better, am I right? It took them using illegal methods to get it out of me, but honestly? If they'd a-paid me enough, I'd have ratted that ram out, no sweat. You know why? I'd do anything for money. I'm greedy, selfish, pathetic, useless… I am an unfriendly jerk with no friends as quite honestly, I don't deserve them. I suck, this city sucks, the whole world sucks and if that's the case I'm just gonna suck along with it. But, you know what sucks even more?"

Duke held up a finger, before lowering it down, pointing right at the vulpine in question. "You."

He chuckled. "What have I done?"

"You're a scammer," Duke snorted. "A scammer so good he'd a' made me green with envy back in the old days, but not anymore. I'm still a big shade of green, but it's very different green, you get me? I've seen what you're doing with these mammals, the great big lies you're feedin' em, how you're getting them ready to… I don't know what!? But it ain't good. It really ain't. I can feel it in my bones. And just think for a second about what I am and what that tells you 'bout yourself!"

A small grin grew across his face. "Lies? What lies?"

"Uh, the ZPD corruption thing? The red furred saviour? All that crap? The idea that all those in power are about to de-pred us, the sheep are evil…"

He broke down into a chuckle, before coming in close, his muzzle swooping in down and low, crossing the gap until his nose was hovering in front of Duke's own. "When have I ever said any of that?"

"With those stupid drop things!?"

"Have I? If, of course, they even are mine. Where in there does it say any of that?"

Duke paused, thinking back before shaking his head. "Well you know what I mean!"

"Do I?"

"Yes!"

"Then say it."

"No."

"Ah, does the truth scare you?"

"No."

"Then say it. What do those drops say? What are they telling those mammals to do?"

"Nothing," Duke yelled, stomping his foot on the ground.

The fox stood up, shrugging. "Interesting. They say nothing, which means they're telling mammals to attack the corruption in the ZPD and…"

"There ain't any corruption in the ZPD!" Duke yelled, panting out for a second before his eyes widened. "-I mean, none of the corruption that you claim there is."

"Which is? I thought those things said nothing."

"Well the ones about the ZPD certainly said something about kiddie pictures or something," Duke said, thrusting his arms out. "After that it was just nonsense made to trick all those idiots up there into piecing together some dumb plot or something they could have fun thinking was real. And it ain't just them, it's pred haters and fox haters and all the rest. You're taking them all for fools!"

"On the contrary," the fox said, smiling. "I'm the only one who's not."

"I… No. No! …What!?"

"On the contrary," he said, smiling as he raised a finger. "Tell me, why are you fighting for your fox?"

"I…" Duke paused, crossing his arms. "So you admit you're the one."

"And you admit your one is too," the fox said. "An interesting mammal. Our own last Weathermammal. Shame about the decades of domestic terrorism."

Duke rolled his eyes. "Please, you don't think they didn't have plenty of books on those morons in the prison library, lest we have any ideas they don't snuff out first. He's smarter an' better than that, not that that's sayin' much... Anyways, don't change the topic!"

"Okay. So, back to the start, why are you fighting for him? Do you believe in his grand vision? In his great cause. In…"

"Honestly, I ain't got nothing better to do." The weasel thrust a paw back at himself. "He came up, talking about how sucky the world was and how we could all work together or something and make it less sucky, but no-one does, partly as plenty of mammals are just as sucky as me. And, you know what? With someone like you running around, maybe part of me felt that, okay, I could be a little less sucky by fighting back against you. I don't know! Might just be me trying to do something different or interesting for once in my life. Maybe even a bit of good in there, if it helps get us to the better world he talks about."

"I see," he said slowly. "May I ask a question?"

"Sure, knock yourself out."

"If his vision is so beautiful. So grand. So inspiring. Where are all his other followers?"

"I…" His eyes narrowed. "Well there's the two that follow them around. And then there's me. And then…"

"And then who?"

"Well I'm sure there's others," Duke said. "Somewhere."

"Sure," the fox said, smiling. "Think that. Imagine it, and imagine that it isn't the truth that the only mammal they got on their group was someone who described himself as a sucky mammal and part of the problem. Someone with no social skills, or…"

"Well at least I know who I am," the weasel huffed. "And I know who he is. You though? Is this another one of your acts? Another performance, another lie, another…" He rolled off. "I mean, what are you like, really? Underneath all that. Who's the real you, you slimy shapeshifter."

"A mammal who can inspire far more mammals than the one you follow for a start."

"And that's a good thing? Really?"

"Yes," he said, cutting off Duke before he could reply. "For all you say I'm lying, what about him, huh? What about what he said to you, how do you know that's the truth? And don't bother asking him about that after, he'll just say I'm trying to split his group apart. Like I always do, or 'the establishment' always does. Etcetera, etcetera…" He sniggered. "At least I'm not a broken record, like him."

"Well at least he's right," Duke said. "At least he's telling the truth, unlike you and what you've got all those idiots on."

"And how do you know he's got you on the truth…"

"He said there was a slimy lying fox tricking mammals into believing his lies out there, and look who I found. That's him up one on you."

The fox paused for a second before conceding, shrugging his shoulders. "Or we could just have a difference in opinion."

"Nah," Duke snorted, waving him off. "I've seen enough."

"Indeed you have," he said. "You just haven't put it all together yet."

His instincts told him to blow off the fox in some rude way, but ultimately Duke was here to stall for time until the cavalry arrived. So he took the bait. "Haven't I?"

"For all he talks about being the big hero, the one in the right, isn't it curious that the only one following him is you?"

Duke snorted. "What, as opposed to the idiots you've gone and made… bigger idiots!"

"Is that what he really thinks of them?" the fox said softly, squatting down in a soft, open, manner.

"I mean, it's kind of what it is. No point in lying about it."

"Yeah, yeah," he said, "because he has their best interests in heart. He has his vision for making the world a better place. Their world a better place. And if only… Oh, if only, they'd vote and act in the correct way. His way. And when they don't?" He tutted a little. "Yeah, big idiots aren't they all. Unable to make the right decisions. Of course, you're different, aren't you? He told you so because you chose him."

The weasel stepped back a bit before grumbling. "You know, I'd-a think the exact same thing about them all if I weren't with him. I was a crummy scam artist, trying to make rubes feel good about 'emselves so I could swindle them out for it. An' you know what, I see all of that here and now."

"Well let me suggest something different," he said. "I trust them." He waved up to the flat. "I trust these mammals to path their own destiny, to find their own way, to live their lives the way they see fit…"

"A dumb stupid move, really…"

It was a light bit of snark but the fox seized on it, coming forward, paws gently but firmly holding onto them. "And isn't that a shame? Isn't that a terrible, horrible shame? You, your people, you don't even think they should be able to live, survive, prosper? You have such a low opinion of them…" He lowered his head. "No wonder you were one of the few to get on with him." He lifted his head. "Old Robin Loxley. Says he's the poor mammals friend, the one fighting for you, all of you… But no. He's fighting for himself. For his own glory. Not for a better world, but for his view of a better world. His image, his idea, where those ahead of him are toppled so those below him can 'prosper', and he's left at the top, the noble arbiter and distributor of fairness. He fights for what he thinks the future should be, with the justification that it's actually for you. But it isn't, it really isn't. Don't believe me? When mammals like us try and move on our own path he just writes them off. They've been misled this or are irredeemable that. He'll make any excuse for why they're not following the correct path, his path, other than the simple fact that maybe, just maybe, they actually have the right and ability to decide what they want for themselves."

He stood up, gesturing to the structures of Happytown Heights around him. Massive grey concrete slabs rose up around them, blocking out chunks of the sky with walls of grey concrete and scrappy balconies, disjointed walkways, large open areas of desolate parking, huge expanses of scrappy grass no-one played on, and the grey raised concrete terrace around them. Battered and half empty shops opened up onto it, bruised and uninviting. Planters full of dead or broken trees only dulled the mood. The whole area felt empty, the few other mammals practically in the scenery, giving it all an unnerving feel.

"This place was built as a place for our kind by his once," the fox shrugged. "Using all their science and knowledge, this was the best thing that could be done for us, as they so proudly instructed us should-be-grateful ones. A way to bring us into their utopian vision. Changing how people, our people, lived for the better via their designs. They genuinely thought that. And look at it now! How it crashed and burned. Our ungrateful, uncivilised, trashy fault, of course."

He shook his head. "New generations, new players, but unlike him we've learnt our lessons. Our people, your people, know now that those who come in saying they have this grand vision for improving our lives are full of it. Why else is the only one of us following him the most self-hating one there is? Why else will he just write them all off, and you if you question them. He's willing to give them wealth taken from others, willing to give them the spectacle of his own revenge on those he dislikes, he believes they owe him their loyalty for it. But do you know what he'll never give them. What he simply can not abide?"

"What?"

"Agency. The simple agency of being able to choose your own path, of being able to see what is out there and draw your own conclusions, the very feeling of power over 'oppressors' that he wishes so much for himself. Secretly, he can't abide them having that, because it means they'll tread their own path, the wrong path, as opposed to his right one." The fox sighed. "I don't even show them a path. My only crime is not even giving but showing mammals like us how to gain agency themselves. That's it. That's all there is to it. Helping them feel pride, power, agency, and letting them do with it what they like. Not conditionally, not for a price, not taken from anyone or given, but genuinely created out of nothing. A net boon for society. And granted to them with the trust… No, the humility to know that they have the right to do whatever they want."

And with that he stood up, smiling. "And for that humble crime, that breaking of his dictat of what is right and what is not, for giving his rightful minions the chance to think for themselves! I am the evil one. But, why wouldn't I be?" He chuckled. "The serpent gave mammals freedom, true freedom, and for that god smote him and he was cast forever as the devil." There was a pause, his ears rising. "Say hi to the almighty for me, won't you?"

And then, before Duke could react, he reached into his paw and tossed something down. The weasel leapt back on instinct, practically doubling up as a loud snap cracked out in front of him.

It was only a bunch of the cheap bang-snaps kits could buy, but it was enough. Enough for the fox, despite his limp, to run over to the wall on the edge of the terrace and vault over. Paws out, grabbing hold of a lamppost, he slid down. Duke ran over and, scrabbling, managed to crest the top… In time to hear an engine rev and a small motorbike take off, and a familiar shout from a different vulpine call out behind him. "-You did good!" The call from behind snapped his attention back, and he saw his red fox, and his brown bear companion running up. "Toss me!"

In an instant, the bear put his paw down and Robin was on it, John (as the weasel had learned he was called) shot-putting him over and out.

It was a spectacular act of heroism, a true hail mary, and one that didn't play out.

Jerking his bike around to the side, the escaping fox narrowly dodged the flying one as he came down, hitting the ground in a hard roll. Turning his head, he saw the target on the ground and the fast approaching brown bear and, knowing his chances, sailed off.

John, no longer able to grab what he'd hoped would be a dismounted enemy, lowered his paw down to his friend who shakily got up. "You okay?"

"No, ah…" He hissed.

"You didn't think this one through, didja?"

"No," he groaned. "No I did not." He hissed some more. "So close. So close again, I thought…"

In one swoop, the brown bear picked him up. "Come on, back to the safe house… Unless…" He turned, looking over to a staircase where Duke was making his way down. "Know any place we can lay low at?"

"No. Not here, anyways."

"Doesn't matter," Robin said, walking over. "Listen, we'll head back to our safe house."

Duke nodded, before pausing. "Can I come?"

"I…" the fox groaned. "For security reasons, in case you get…"

"Nah," John said, putting a paw down. "I think he's shown his colours well enough. Come on. We might want a debrief after this…" The sound of a far off siren perked his ears. "And stayin' here might mean an encounter with the boys in blue."

Duke thought for a second before nodding. "Okay, I'll come."

The bear smiled. "There's the spirit."

"Yup," the fox groaned, looking over, more worse for wear than before. "I suppose."

And with that the bear turned and took off at a healthy pace, taking the fox and weasel with him.

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"As I've said before, we're still waiting on reports back from the drone network. ELSA seem to be tracking something that releases some kind of signal, and have, in the past, triangulated its position and attempted a retrieval. One we were able to intercept and recover one mammal from."

There was a pause for a moment, Lt Vixen's brow knitting as the response came back.

"Well no, but he did give us information that allowed us to identify the true carrier of this device. He's a former Soeviet immigrant by the name of Pyotr Kozlov, with reported past service in the military and intelligence network. Moreover, my new asset is two degrees of separation from that bear."

She paused, her ears going up at the barked laugh before settling down again, a signature smarmy grin growing across her face. "As usual. Or then again, maybe I just have good skill in picking out those who are useful."

She felt him rolling his eyes, before he continued talking. A quick nod and she carried on. "Not much more about him that we don't have from our intelligence network, which isn't a lot. But, I think we have gleamed what this item in question is. The middle mammal in the connection took a journey back to the north of Ewekraine a few months back, entrusting into the paws of a certain bunny a keepsake for the duration of the trip. A small, copper coloured pendant, reportedly with some damage to one end."

…

"Well we don't know yet," she said, rapping her claws on the table. "But given our arms dealers modus operandi and the fact that some kind of signal has to be being produced by item for them to track, we can guess. I suspect it's some kind of key or start up system for some form of experimental weapon. Maybe more sunken nukes, as they are want to recover and rebuild, or maybe something more interesting."

Her ears perked slightly from the next question, and then some more from the knock on the door. Ignoring the latter, she focussed on the former, closing her eyes and letting her paw come up and fuss with the end of her muzzle. "By all means we know that they were experimenting with some unique things by the end. Projected energy weapons, which have only really found favour in the paws of certain highly righteous law enforcement officials. Advanced ground effect aircraft and hybrid airship platforms…"

Her brow furrowed as she was cut over, tail tip coming up into her free paw to get worked through. Something only doubled up on as the knocking increased, firmer and louder.

"I know. But, if you had let me carry on with my train of thought, I'd have concluded that it could easily be something relatively beyond our estimations, albeit in a very small package." Eyes lifting up a bit and glancing around, she looked back down. "For instance, maybe they did build a mutually assured doomsday device, and that is the trigger. It would explain why the bear we took in was so afraid and… nihilistic, almost."

There was another, louder, set of knocks as the reply came over.

"Well maybe this thing is very sci-fi," she said. "All we know is that our enemies want it, and so we want it more."

She smiled as the voice on the other line agreed with her, only for it to flash into a frown. "Lucky is but the word used by the envious."

Her frown increased.

"Surely, my exceptional string of 'luck' might have a common denominator of sorts. No?"

With one last response, she rolled her eyes.

"Yes, let's see what happens when my luck 'does' run out." And with that, she signed off, turning to the door. "Come in."

The handle turned and in entered Jack Savage, finger up. "He does have a point though."

"Uh…" Blinking a little, her tail tip coiling up in her palm and getting squeezed between her fingers, Lt Vixen spoke the first proper word that came to her mind. "What?"

"When he pointed out that you have run on a lot of successes and things have generally gone in your favour," Jack carried on. "I mean, I'd say plenty of that is your own work, but some of it could certainly be described as luck… For instance the fact that your sister knows me and together we knew the potential lead to move on in terms of Honey and such. I mean, coincidence?"

Standing up and brushing herself down, she gave him a firm look. "Though that lead wasn't the most firm, was it? Whereas our monitoring certainly did bring us further along."

Jack shrugged. "Until it kind of ran dry. Maybe that is your luck starting to run dry."

She smiled, putting a paw to his lips. "I think I'll know when my luck is running out. But, until then, a good mixture of knowing mammals and talent at playing the board will get me a long way. Speaking of which. How did you know what I was saying?"

"Ahem," he smiled, folding his arms. "What you and your commander were saying."

"I presume you had some clever method of gleaning that information. Care for a demonstration?"

With pleasure he smiled, walking back and then laying his ear against the door. Lt Vixen blinked a few times before swiftly reasserting her composure. "I didn't expect your ears to be so highly attuned."

"Or," Jack smirked, knocking the door. "Your doors to be so non-soundproof."

The vixen frowned, looking over to look at it. "Either way, care to explain your motives in listening in?"

Pausing for a moment, Jack looked to the side before shooting her a smirk. "Experience."

"In…"

"Spying."

"I suppose I can't be mad at that," she said. "Anyway, any reason why you're here right now?"

"Oh, yeah. Remember that Honey Badger?"

"The ex-conspiracy theorists whose offensive videos my sister has enjoyed getting Doug to watch."

"That's the one!" the hare chirped. "Anyway, she wants the two to meet."

"Okay… Is there an ulterior motive or is this just to annoy him further."

"Well," Jack began. "Skye's been working on this plan, based on the fact that Honey is, operative word here, an ex anti-sheep conspiracy theorist. If she…"

"-Yeah, yeah, I get it," the red fox said. Straightening her jacket. "You know what, sure. By all means, it'll be very interesting to watch."

Jack nodded. "And might, you know. Help Doug…"

The red fox gave an amused look. "I mean, it certainly could! But my judgement call is still on a highly amusing and spectacular failure."

"I mean, I can certainly picture that," the hare said, paws going out in front of him. "But I'd also say it is kind of… Unsupportive towards what has been your highly patient sister."

"Supportive?" the vixen asked before chuckling, tail tip going up into her paw. "Rest assured, I'm very interested in seeing my sister have a go at playing my game. My expectations may be, as I'd put it, realistic. But I will certainly keep up appearances for it."

"Oh… Good," he shrugged.

"Uh-hu. No popcorn for us, for a start!"