Chapter 75
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Carm fell to her knees, seeing the devastation in front of her. She hadn't actually seen the Fox family household in the fur before, carved out from the centre of a living tree and with burrows and cellars beneath.
The splintered and ruined forms of it now lay scattered about. Bent, twisted, broken. Massive limbs, rolled in dirt, had been dragged off to the side while in other places a massive chunk of the trunk lay at an askew angle, beached. Gnarly bark on one side and the upside down fragment of a bedroom or bathroom on the carved inner face.
She stepped forward, towards the crying form of Skye, only to freeze as she glanced down at a small pile of torn up stuffing. The shapes of scattered limbs and cut off tails, soaking in the churned up mud, made it look like a massacre had happened. Chipped away button eyes met hers and she walked on, making her way around some scattered and ruined comic book papers to the vixen.
Jack glanced up at her, his ears pulled down.
Carm didn't know what to say. "They… They might have got out."
"H-how?"
"They're smart," the vixen said. "In an irritating way, yes, but…" She closed her eyes, wiping her face.
Dammit. They'd found out, how? The fox family knew about the bug, was there another? Had Rattigan and co just figured it out?
It didn't matter.
The end result was the same. With the Cooper gang pulled off their rendezvous to save her and the others, they'd been alone when…
"-I…" the vixen looked up to see Dr Soren walking up and looking down at the hewn out crater at the centre of the site. Like a giant fork had been thrust in and churned tree and burrow and the land around and around. The skunk was just as speechless as she was.
The wolf was as well, even as she started shuffling down the slope, making her way to the debris, half stuck in the earth as it was.
A scattering of stones to her right and Carm saw Skye and then Jack moving down and in.
A whirr to her side and she saw Bentley scanning through the rubble, looking in with a thermal camera. "I hope this is good news, but I can't see any thermal signatures consistent with a living mammal." His eyes met hers and a second later he added. "Or recently deceased."
The vixen nodded slowly. "They could have been taken, just like Dr Silverfox."
"-Presuming the talisman is fundamentally broken, whatever Dr Silverfox does would be a moot point."
"There's the sarcophagus thing, whatever it really is," Carm whispered, looking down. "Dr Soren and Dr Bloom were studying it, including with some correspondents with Dr Silverfox."
"I'll pull them in," he said, whirring his wheelchair to the side. All as the vixen stepped back, trying to survey the site, looking for anything she'd missed. Any clue that was available.
Three massive excavators stood abandoned nearby, their job done. Walking up to one, sniffing at the driver's seat. -Pig. With an odd flowery scent. Faint but there. Napoleon. She then walked over to the second, immediately noticing the small mammal control unit on the dash. A quick sniff, rat and pallas cat. She wasn't even surprised when the third and final seat smelled of fox.
All three of them, moving out to wreck cuss up and have some fun.
She began moving around the edges of the site, seeing if she could spot any signs of a vehicle that had taken them away or something. Not that it would do much good, not that… She paused, leaning down and sniffing. Blood.
Lion's blood.
And another scent, one she followed walking on before almost jolting back. Fox blood, fox fur, specks of flesh and an overpowering scent of musk. Had their fox had his violet gland cut open or… She froze, recognising just which fox had this scent. Starting to race around, sniffing in as much as she could…
Nothing else of his, it wasn't like he'd run or been taken. She followed what trail there was back to the wreckage, having to get down on all fours to try and get around the devastation. Leaping across a sudden void, scrabbling back a different way, she paused as she found herself up over Jack and Skye.
Both were at the bottom of a particularly large crater, scraped down to the bedrock.
Letting herself slide down in a small avalanche of dirt and rock, she found herself looking at the scattered remains of small timber struts and ladders, scattered about around a small boulder filled divot.
The swift fox vixen glanced up at her, her tail starting to wag. "I think… I think it was mentioned once the house had an old tunnel down to the Nocturnal District. Back for smuggling or… -If they got down it…" She reached out her phone, starting to type in.
All as Jack leant down, ear on the ground. He shot up. "There's somebody down there!"
Carm snapped to him before racing down, trying to see if there was a way through the rocks. She began trying to pull one up, struggling with the hare and then the other vixen to pull it somewhat out and away.
Another one out, Jack glancing at her before jumping away. "I get Dr Bloom in, get a rope, I can go down."
"You do that," Carm agreed, she and Skye doing their best to lever away another rock. A small mouse hole was revealed, Carm leaning over and shouting down. "Hello? Is there anybody in there?"
"Hello?" Skye added.
A silence echoed back, the pair looking at each other before their ears rose, the sound of a heavy vehicle arriving nearby driving out the silence. "Murray," Carm said, "that will…"
The sound of a horn screaming and the vehicle racing forward filled the air, before gunshots ripped out through the night. Carm turned, threw Skye back down behind a fallen block of tree and started bounding up out of the pit as fast as she could.
All as screams and the sound of more gunfire came from up above.
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"LISTEN UP MAMMALS!" Bogo roared, walking out through the lobby of Precinct One. He held a riot shield up, before hauling out a box of medical supplies. "Dope yourself up! We're facing an enemy using nighthowlers and other chemical agents. Get your gas mask on, get your riot gear on."
"S-sir!" He turned to see Clawhauser, the cheetah holding up a finger before a set of bangs and slams rang out from the other side of the front doors, screams ringing out to be let in, for mercy.
A few of the cops began yelling back, cheering, calling out about them wanting help when the chips were down.
Judy began marching towards them only to be cut off by a hoof from Bogo, the Chief thinking for a second before turning to a group of megafauna. "Line up along the eastern side of the lobby, ferry them along the back route down through the motor pool. Clawhauser, tell the mammals on that side to be ready to open the gates."
"Are… -are you sure sir, I…"
He sighed. "I'm going to hope they're now too scared of what's going on out there to remember that they hated us," he muttered. "Right, first group with riot gear, get ready!" He waved them over, the mammals forming a barrier along one wall, one that was quickly braced with supporting officers.
Nick looked on, quickly snapping his fingers and turning to the Chief. "Sir, if you get some of the CO's from the lockup…"
Bogo turned to him. "Shock poles, good thinking." He marched off, quickly barking orders before a group of mammals in tan suits marched back towards the line, shock prods in paw. "Only engage if they start trying to break through the line. If they actually do?" He turned to another group of mammals, tired, weary, automatic weapons held in their paws. "Do what needs to be done."
"-Ready!" came a call, as Ben turned back to Bogo.
"Mammals at the rear gate say it's empty, some of the mammals were hit…"
"-Are they ready!?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Right," he said, turning and giving the order. "Open the gates!"
With a rattle, the furthest three metal shutters began pulling up, all while the banging and screams reached a new crescendo. A second passed and the first mammal, a klipspringer by the look up it, managed to crawl in. "That way, out the back!" an officer yelled, practically pushing him along with his feet. The mammal raced off, a flood following him. Tens and then hundreds of mammals racing through, the scent of panic and blood on them as they were herded along. Bangs and knocks came from the riot shield walls, a few screams as some tried to push through and past, but the current was quick and steady. More and more mammals, fleeing whatever carnage was going on outside, racing in and trying to escape out.
"Right," Bogo said, turning back to some of his mammals. His eyes focussed on Clawhauser. "What's the situation out there? Where are the mammals behind all this operating?"
"I… -I think it's a ring on all the buildings sir, from the looks of it mammals not fleeing into here are going into City Hall instead."
"Not the natural history museum?" Judy asked.
Nick shook his head. "Fluff, nobody chooses the natural history museum."
"-What about the train station?" Catano asked, jogging up. "If I was stuck out there and needed to get out, just walk along the tracks."
"-I… -I think they know that too," Clawhauser said. "There's a number of savage mammals in front of there, even more than the museum. Anyone who gets close…"
Bogo nodded. "Are the helicopters finally refuelled or…"
"No, besides they've been requisitioned by…"
"Well RE-requi…" He was cut off as a set of screams and yowls began ringing out from outside the front doors of the precinct. Yells of savages, screams, more bangs on the side as the flow suddenly began to increase, mammals starting to fall over each other.
Nick winced as he smelt blood in the air, the flow suddenly stopping.
Seconds later, a bellow rang out, an elephant charging in on all fours, ploughing into the riot shield wall that tried to stop him and throwing them aside. He then turned, staring Nick and Judy and the rest down for a second, blood trickling down his face and the tattered remains of an ice cream vendors uniform hanging off of him. Some of the mammals got up and tried to restrain him, they were kicked aside or were pulled into try to stop other savages who were entering in, the call given out to close the gates once again.
The pop of dart guns going off rang out, the elephant bellowing for a second before charging forwards regardless, the ground shaking as he raced towards them like an unstoppable freight train. Bogo turned, yanking Ben out of the way as Kii, Nick and Judy pulled in the other direction, diving behind the smouldering ruins of the central desk.
It followed them, two strides smashing into what remained and throwing it out, a plank slamming into Judy and sending her to the floor. Nick and Catano turned on the spot, the fox far closer and racing to pick her up only to freeze as the earth shook, the beast filling up his vision and fixing the vulpines feet to the floor like a wave of gravity. Another round of dart shots and he just trumpeted, enraged eyes glaring down and ready to…
A sudden bang ripped out and he screamed, collapsing down to one side as a knee gave away, toppling him over. Judy, struggling to get up, saw the side of his shoulder crashing down onto her only to be ripped away to the side, the world rolling and the floor smashing and smashing into her until it stopped.
Nick holding her tight.
The fox panting, his smoking sidearm down by his side.
The elephant, stuck on the floor, bellowed and moaned a few times before finally quietening down.
Nick gripped onto Judy and she looked back, the pair leaning into each other and holding themselves tight. Head to head, fur against fur, the tears trickling down and mixing as they sobbed into each other.
The doors had been sealed, the few savages on the inside had been subdued. The screams and roars from outside carried on and on.
"STATUS REPORT!"
They turned to Bogo, the buffalo running over to give them a once over before looking back at his mammals. The group who'd been ferrying the mammals through the Precinct were in disarray, scattered and broken. Catano had started to run over there to assist only to freeze, staring back, hunched over at the sight of what laid beyond. And then she fell to her knees, mouth open and the contents of her stomach pouring out of her.
Bogo started to look that way only to grimace, glancing away. A paw came up to hold back the smaller mammals. "Probably wasn't even from the savages… A small mammal trips up in that stampede…"
Judy, her nose twitching, nodded.
All as Bogo held his head tight. "Come on, come on, think…"
"-What if we just tank up a few of our elephants," Judy suggested. "Tranq any other megafauna, just wade through the chaos…"
"Too much time for them to move on," Bogo said. "And if they have an anti-tank rifle, a Deernel NTW-20 or something, well…" He left it unsaid before glancing down. A set of paper towels covered a small mass alone in the middle of the floor, one corner blown aside to reveal a still bit of wing. Bogo just let out a bitter huff.
Nick walked up to him. "You did what you had to do. My guy's kneecap was twice the size of his body…"
"-Elbow," the Chief said, giving an eye at the fox. He paused, looking at him, then at Judy.
"Idea?" the fox asked, suddenly clicking his finger. "If we got out via the sewers again we could…"
"No, too slow." Bogo turned to Clawhauser. "Ben, does tech still have those traffic drones."
"I… I'll check!"
"We've got about a dozen," he said, eyes lingering on the smaller mammals.
"I see where this is going," the fox said, nodding.
"You two don't…"
"-We've got to stop this," Judy said, standing next to him.
Bogo nodded. "Right, go down to the cells. Find a bunch of petty criminals half your size, they're getting a pardon if they volunteer. Go! Go!"
Nick and Judy turned, starting to race off, only for a set of crashes and shouts to ring out. They looked up to see a pair of drones flying in and down through the atrium, hovering for a second before dropping, clouds of white smoke starting to billow out. The fox practically squealed as he smelt it, eyes locking on to the box of riot gear spilling out on the floor, cut off from them. "MANCHINEEL! GAS MASKS!"
Bogo turned to him and nodded, racing off and picking up a set, even as he winced back from the caustic smoke. "GAS MASKS UP!" He pulled his on before looking around. "GET ME A BIN OR…" A metal plastic waste bin slammed into the ground beside him, tossed from an upper balcony. Grabbing it he charged forward, kicking one drone into the other and then placing the bin over the top of both.
He stumbled back, hissing as he leant down to the leg that he'd used to kick it, already welting up. Nick raced forward. "Sir, I still have some salve in my lock…"
"Just unlock it, then draft up the recruits," he ordered, grabbing the box of masks and making sure that the officers around him were protected. Nick and Judy turned, only to snap back as two small gas masks were tossed in their direction. They grabbed them and raced onwards, making their way towards the cells only to freeze as a pair of gunshots rang out.
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Jack flinched back, hiding himself behind the side of the Cooper Van as a set of massive white feet hit the ground. Sparing a glance around the corner he saw their leader, a massive polar bear with a bruised and battered face, smirking along. "You know, when idiot rat chastise me for failure, I can rub into him how he fail to dig out family of foxes with heavy machinery, while we got the hostage he want." Walking forward, gun held to his chest, he laughed, looking around. "Come out little ones. Mister Rattigan only want to ensure family reunion."
The hare stepped back, sliding under the vehicle only to pause, ears shooting up as he heard the bottom hatch opening up, a frantic looking skunk peaking down. "Get up here, the turtle says it's bullet…"
She was cut off as a metal dink rang out in front of him, ears shifting and then eyes following. His heart fell into his stomach as he saw the grenade bouncing and rolling down just in front of him. He raced forward, it didn't even get to stop as Jack grabbed it and gave it a wild swing out, jumping back in and bracing himself as it exploded mid air, the sound of shrapnel hitting the ground and kicking up pebbles and earth ringing out. The hare winced back as some of it peppered him, the bears outside roaring out in shock.
They'd been in a completely different place to where the grenade had gone but were already charging over, more being thrown in, between him and the hatch. "Close it!" He leapt back, tail grinding against the earth as he scrabbled to his feet and leapt, wincing down mid-air as more explosions ripped out from beneath the vehicle.
With a start the van's engine roared to life, the machine shifting and starting to pull back only to jolt as two or three heavy figures slammed into it on the other side, gunshots firing and glass starting to crack. The hare landed down just in time to hear an order being barked out and three pairs of paws hook under the other side, starting to lift it up and over.
His feet gripped down and slammed to a halt. Go back. No, go forward and bite them, make them dro…
A yell from his side and he turned to see the wounded polar bear in charge, pulling himself around the van and slowly raising his gun. He could hear his own heart beating. Thump, silence, thump, silence, his legs buckled down and wound up before he launched himself into the air, body spinning as he sailed up and a blast of gunshot ripped into the earth where he'd just been. And then he was racing forwards on all fours, twist, turn, leap, bounce, this way, that way, behind cover! -BEHIND COVER! All as the ground ripped apart around him, stones and rocks cutting into his body as he banked hard to the right, a trail of bullets tracking him. Ever closer, ever nearer, catching up and ready to pounce on him and sink him down then and there. One last leap, Jack dove behind the shattered limb of the tree, out of sight, the timber at his back vibrating as a clip was emptied into it.
A crash rang out behind him, the van tipped over. The hare panted, shivered, a paw idly checked down around his underwear… -For a weapon, for a weapon, where was his…
He pulled up his bolas launcher only to freeze, it was the gun he'd got from Doug on the helicopter.
Heavy footsteps were pounding around him, orders being called out in Russian as the bear… -No, three of them, advanced, ready to take him out. One coming the way he came, another pausing, another going around to flank.
He held the weapon in his paw, checked the safety was off and it was ready, and he rolled over onto his belly, nestled behind a piece of timber bent a clean ninety degrees off the branch. Gun on top, ready, waiting…
The bear, laughing, gun held in a waving right paw turned the corner, trying to look for him.
Jack lined it up and pulled the trigger, wincing back as the unmuffled blast of the gunshot hammered into his ears, his weapon bucking back into his undersized paws.
He opened his eyes to see the bear tip over, carried to the side on one leg before it buckled and he collapsed down.
Yells and screams were suddenly coming out from behind him, the hare pushing on, leaping on over the timber, gun held to his chest as the cursing bears behind him peppered out shots at Jack as he pulled himself behind another piece of wood, grabbing it to swing himself around and letting go just as a bullet grazed where his paw had been.
His ears still ringing, he spared a glance up, seeing the two making their way over, guns now held against their muzzle, the odd shot let loose. Off in the background, the blue light of Carmelita's shock pistol rang out, followed by the return shots of the last bear, keeping her from assisting as his hunters let loose.
Pulling back, pop-explosions ripping out around him, Jack sidestepped further into the debris field. Underneath the bent and buckled form of a bed and the through half a bath. A tunnel in the earth appeared and he crawled down and through it, the wet mud scraping onto his body and fur.
He could hear his breath again, his ears were still aching but he could hear his breath and his heart beating like mad. Clawing his way through a tight spot his paws winced, aching from being bent back by the recoil.
The sound of footsteps got closer, followed by rips and tears of some of the debris being lifted up and out. The bears, two of them, sniffing and finding their way through, after him.
Pushing on, spotting a hidden run to the side, he raced through it, fast and quiet as he could until he came up to an opening. The bears were there, side on to him, not noticing.
Finding somewhere to rest the gun against, he lined up, he relaxed his paws, the iron sight rested over the bear's head.
He pulled the trigger, his preparations in no way stopping his body from buckling and his ears screaming. Gun back in, on all fours, keep on going as another barrage of gunfire erupted where he'd been, following on and peppering his tail.
All as behind him the bear screamed, mad, furious, tears in his eyes as he swore vengeance. Jack had got his friend.
Two killed.
He could do two more.
He could get through this.
He moved to another gap, looking down at the bear, the massive ursine now hiding where he could, using a displaced slab of garden patio tiles, hanging askew and pointing to the sky, as cover. His head was mostly hidden and he kept bobbing it, moving it, peeking in and out of view. But looking down he saw that his rear was sticking out of the back of a chunk of wood. Almost perfectly still.
Jack turned his aim to it, lining up and letting out a shot. Wincing back, he stayed put, opening his eyes again to see the whole rear of the bear slide backwards, landing on the floor and hurling back the torso and blood soaked head.
Jack snapped to where the front of the bear was, a sudden ice cold tharn freezing his body in place as he saw the unharmed bear racing forward, gun up and aiming right at him.
A twitch of a nerve, he somehow kicked a leg out and toppled himself over, throwing him out of his motionless and letting him dart to the side, jumping along the tunnel as it shook and rattled, splinters of wood peppering out as it stopped most but not all of the bullets. A whip and flash of heat, he hissed as a red hot one touched his ankle, as roars and barked orders came out.
Opening his eyes, trying to see what was going on in the dark light, he caught something rattle and fall down in front of him, dropping just out of view.
And then it exploded, a cloud of dust and debris slamming into his face as his paws reached up, grabbing the bases of his ears and trying to protect them from the screaming drill-bits piercing in.
A second later, just as he was unwincing, another blast ripped out behind him, peppering his back with two or three flecks of white hot screaming pain.
He hissed, curling up, before pushing himself onwards once more, towards the first explosion and past it. Keep moving, keep… He shook as another explosion ripped out behind him, further away thankfully.
Keep moving.
Keep moving.
A third ripped behind him, a piece of something large slamming into his behind as he made a jump, throwing him off course. His left paw grazed over the paw-hold he was aiming for, his right kept hold of his gun, he looked on as his body flew out and his chin landed down on the ground. And then the world spun, he felt rocks cut into his head before his whole back slammed into a rock.
He screamed out in pain, hissing.
All as the bear… No, bears, outside spoke to each other, walking forward, tracking him down.
His vision shifted and spun, his ears and paws and whole body ached.
The hare slowly crawled forward, lying on the ground.
Who was he kidding?
This was it.
He wasn't some double-oh agent. He was an actor for cusses sake, an act…
Pulling himself forward, shaking as he did so, he began backing down the tunnels, watching, waiting, freezing as he saw something that he could work with.
The shattered remains of a kit's highchair, turned upside down in the mayhem. The pawpad printed piece of furniture stood there, the bent and twisted backrest cutting into the ground while the legs, high up, were bent from the weight of heavy tree and piled up earth they were supporting. All holding up an unsteady roof of a hollow, bent and weak struts only just keeping it aloft.
The bears, still speaking, were getting closer as Jack turned to it, starting to dig around as fast as he could. Pulling away at the chock of earth the backrest had dug up, loosening its hold.
Small trickles of rock began raining down on him as he slowed down. Carefully, carefully…
He froze, smiling as he spotted the half broken remains of a window pain nearby. He grabbed it and wedged it in against a different part of the chair and a piece of rock, paws turning back to the excavations.
All as he could hear them starting to climb up and over, all as he heard bits of debris being lifted up.
Freezing as the whole structure shifted slightly and settled, the hare scurried back, squeezing under and behind another large boulder, making sure there were escape routes to his rear.
Gun out, pointing between the shard of glass and some of the small gaps in the surface of the debris field, he waited. The sound of the bears talking and picking through got louder, a flash of white appearing in front of him.
Jack fired, pulling himself behind the rock as he thought he heard the rattle of a grenade.
A second later it exploded, the glass shattering, the timbers cracking and the ground shaking as the front of the field collapsed. The hare then screamed. Screamed for his life. High pitch, a terrible mortal wail calling out.
And then it was gone, Jack racing along the path as quietly as he could, all as he thought he heard the bears outside roar with success and more grenades going off to make sure. Seeing a small gap in the tunnel in front of him he shuffled up to it, letting an eye glance out. The bear who'd used his dead comrades rear end as a distraction was there, scanning around near where he'd just been, gun in one paw and a grenade ready in the other.
The bruised polar bear leader at the back was unpinning one and throwing it into the pile. This time Jack covered his ears and prepared, weathering the blast as the two looked on.
The bear closest to him looked up at the one at the top. "I smell rabbit blood, I think we got him!"
"Don't be so sure," he snarled.
"What, did you not hear death scream?"
"Yes, probably dead. But until I see body…" He froze up as a blue light lit up behind him. He turned, swearing and jumping to the side as one of Carmelita's shock pistol blasts sailed up and through where he'd been. He let loose a round of spray, sliding back down the slope before unpinning and chucking a grenade. He joined it with another round of gunfire over the edge, pulling back as a shock pistol shot went wide overhead. "YOU AGAIN!"
Moving his gun around, Jack slowly lined himself up, aiming.
Waiting.
The sound of Carmelita shouting broke out. "Sí, me again! Surrender now bears, I beat your kind once before!"
The bear further below finished reloading his weapon before looking up. "Nyet, stalemate!" He looked at the bruised bear, who leant in whispering something in russian, the other one nodding. And then they carried on speaking, in english, loud and clear. "But not this time!"
"Da! You not face Osip before!" the bruised bear boasted. "And this time we have gun and grenade, for flushing out those trapped in narrow escape tunnel. Or now, you…"
"Pah," the other one grumbled just a bit too loudly. "Just flush out anyone in tunnel he say. Simple job after fun looting he say!" He spat down, walking up, as Osip laughed.
"Hey, I kill cop here, I have something fun to say to son when he get out!"
"What?" the other one laughed, joining his friend near the edge of the cover. "More fun than looting own art store for insurance money?"
"Sound more…" He began, before pulling down as another shot came over. Gun up, he fired a set of covering shots before pulling down to reload, the other bear taking over. "I think there one still in crater," Osip carried on, winking as he took out a grenade while picking up a rock and handing it to him. "I airburst crater vixen, you go up and spray fox cop when distracted."
The other bear nodded, lining up to launch the rock down the pit, down at Skye… While Osip unpinned the grenade, let go of the handle and watched as his comrade chucked the rock up and over, Carmelita screaming out a warning. "SKYE!"
Osip lifted himself up, arm swinging around to launch the cooked grenade at the vixen cop only to jolt, a gunshot erupting out and his body stumbling back. The other bear turned, grabbed him, tried to settle him down even as he saw the holes in his head and turned to face where it had come from.
Jack, opening his eyes and recovering from the recoil, met his. They seemed to look into each other, the air quiet.
And then the grenade at his feet went off, a blast of smoke and debris that peppered his front and sent him stumbling back.
Both bears collapsed forward, limply rolling down to the bottom of the slope.
Jack collapsed back down, limply dropping the weapon, his head light and body tired. He heard someone calling his name and looked up to see Carmelita there. Waving out of the hole with a paw, she saw it and began to make her way over, double checking the two bears as she did so.
Staggering out, Jack walked forward and collapsed into her chest, body trembling.
"Okay," she said. "You did good. You'll be coming down from an adrenaline high. We get you somewhere to sit down, you might feel ill…" It carried on in the background, Jack just nodding and saying uh-hu… uh-hu…
"JACK!"
He turned up to see Skye at the top of the slope, racing down to meet him. He pulled away from Carm, walked forward and let himself fall into her chest, the vixen wrapping herself tight around him and softly crying.
He nodded slowly into her, only to freeze, ears going up as he heard the sound of wheels on the gravel. "Get a gun," he whispered…"
"What?"
"More coming," he said, pulling himself away and starting to make his way up towards a large chunk of tree. Good cover for the next set.
"-Ch… -Check your ammo…" Skye said.
He looked up to her, nodding as he pulled out the magazine. "...At least two," he said, pushing the magazine back in.
"And one in the chamber," she said, before turning around and pulling one of the guns from the paws of the dead bears, mammalhandling it with two paws. She raced over, checking how many were in…
"At least four…" she said, "probably a bunch."
"Still going strong, I think," Carm agreed, the group slowly assembling themselves. Looking out and over, they saw the two empty vehicles and the Sly van, still on its side. Behind them, a massive dumper truck was slowly pulling up. The red fox vixen blinked, leaning to the side and slowly putting her paw on top of the other two's weapons.
"W-what?" Skye asked, as the vixen cop gently pushed them down.
All was answered as the vehicle ground to a halt, a familiar hippo jumping out and looking around, hooves up to his face in a perfect imitation of The Scream.
"We're safe!" Carm shouted, making her way up, Jack and Skye following. "We think the others got out too, we…"
She was cut off as the hippo raced over, picking the other three up and hugging them into his chest. Bone crushingly tight.
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Shots erupted from the top of the ZPD building, lighting up against the roof of the station, the mammals on top hissing and finding cover, aiming back. Gunfire echoed out, mixing with the ongoing screams from down in the plaza, even as most of the mammals had made their way into a building. Even without them the sounds of a riot played on. Screaming car horns, the flickers and flames of fires, the occasional pop of a firework.
The soft whine of drones was hidden, the small aircraft hovering behind the frontage of the building. Looking down, Nick spotted half a dozen or so bears as well as some bison or musk ox or something, they were behind cover…
A sharp whimper cut his attention away, the fox turning towards a beaver to his side. Like him, the mammal was hanging from a jury-rigged harness. Like him, he was armed with a tranq gun and body armour. Unlike him, he wasn't trained. He wasn't even a cop. The orange jumpsuit under his body armour betrayed it all. He was just a two bit scam artist who pretended to be a building contractor, snuck into sites and made off with tools and expensive materials. And who had volunteered for a pardon and was now seriously regretting it.
"Shhhh," Nick shushed. "Listen to me, as long as we have the jump, we can get them. You have laser pointers, right? You can aim."
The shivering beaver just glanced up at the fox before looking down again. A quick check revealed that at least half the recruits were probably the same way. Honestly, he wasn't sure if they were the ones he should be worried about, given that some others seemed to be relishing this job.
Either way, they slowly moved into position, Nick speaking into his radio. A light flashed three times from the top of the ZPD building, the group pulling their weapons up and getting ready.
A second later, a massive flash of light followed by a roaring explosion burst out from behind the ZPD building. A basic petrol bomb on the top parking deck sure, but they didn't know that.
The gunfire from the Precinct stopped, the mammals on top of the station glancing at each other before laughing, cheering, stepping up over the edge to see it for themselves or to get back on with covering fire.
They didn't notice the faint red lights on their backs, and only briefly noticed the specks of pain that followed.
"WILDE! GO!" The fox yelled, his drone dropping down fast as the others scattered. His feet hit the roof surface and he unclipped himself, racing along, tranq ready to pick up any who'd been missed.
The radio spoke back, the recruits didn't notice anything bad going on. A second later they were dropped down.
Nick flinched as he heard some shots from the roof of the Natural History machine, paws going straight to an abandoned sniper rifle and looking through the sight, trying to see if he could…
"Both rooves clear," a report came in, the fox sighing with relief. She'd done it. They'd done it. He turned to the other mammals, at least half still in heir jail uniforms.
"Okay, cable tie them up, you should all know how tight. Then grab the guns. Don't fire unless given the order, you really don't wanna be a contender for stupidest mammal in Zootopia, do you?. My partner and I should be able to knock out any other blockers ourselves. Oh, and happy pardon."
They erupted in cheers, Nick waving them back from the edge before turning to the plaza in front of him.
The doors of the ZPD Precinct One building were finally open, the officers, fully decked out in protective gear and pre-doped with Nighthowler cure, were finally on the move. Cutting to the side, making their way to the barricades and subduing savage mammals where they could. The odd gunshot sound pierced through, Nick wheeling around his commandeered gun, only to find the mammal in question out of his line of sight.
A few shots from the Natural History Museum roof though, followed by a riot officer charge… The fox sighed with relief. It was over, it was over…
And then his phone buzzed, the fox curious for a few seconds over why he was getting a text from Ash. Before he blinked, leaping up into the air and cheering.
.
.
With a slam, the back of the Cooper van was ripped open, Skye looking in. "They made it! They made it, they're safe…"
"The -the family?" Dr Soren asked, looking back out.
""Yes, they… The larger ones are still making their way out of the tunnel, but…" The vixen found herself unable to go on, just leaping to the side of the van and hugging Jack, hard.
She dropped him the second she heard him wince.
Slowly putting him down, she apologised before reaching around to the back of his shin, still bleeding from the grenade fragments.
Skye turned to look at Dr Bloom and Carmelita. The former had a basic first aid course, the second a more advanced one, enough for her hare but the second the wolf had found that two of the polar bears were still alive Clara and Carmelita had put their foot down. Basic triage rules, it didn't matter who was on what side, the bears needed critical care that probably wasn't even available in the city right now. Jack was just walking wounded. He could wait.
The swift fox wanted to hate them, but… She shook her head. She got it.
One of the bears had died anyway, after being shot in the head and, after being used as a ruse by his comrade, in the rear, his body had struggled on before giving up.
The other one seemed like it was getting there. He'd been bandaged up before starting to choke, the two female canids (with Bentley's guidance) doing an emergency tracheotomy on him with a spare syringe.
Dr Bloom idly remarked that she did end up sticking one with her oestrogen shot, though not in the way she expected.
So far, so… Stable…
"Was this… How you expected it Jack?"
He looked up at Skye. "Expected what?"
"...Crossing the bridge," she said, glancing down at the three dead bears, lying on the ground. She flinched back on seeing Osip's face, turned and looking at them. Their eyes glistened slightly in the light they'd set up, the only thing that caught it more being his wedding ring.
Jack sighed. "I… I just had to, I…" He shrugged, trailing off.
She nodded, about to say something only to freeze, looking away, ears going back.
"Skye?"
"Oh, uh… -Nothing, nothing at all…"
"You still can't act, you know?"
She trailed off, glancing back at him, then at Carmelita. "We figure that the last two were trying to lead us on. I wasn't in the crater, Carmelita was expecting something to come her way…"
"And Carm could have shock pistoled them. Two more would still be alive." Jack said, looking down at Osip. "His son would still have a father."
Skye trailed off, ears pulling back. "J-Jack, don't…"
"Don't what?" he shrugged, looking up at her, then down at them. "That's war… They started it. We… Finished it. And I crossed that bridge. I crossed that bridge."
He sighed, slowly starting to get up only to wince, a paw going down to his thigh. "Come on," Skye said, "Let's make them see to you now."
"-Or I could," a familiar voice said, the pair turning around to see a red fox vixen standing there.
"SWEETIE!" She stepped back, flinching as Skye grabbed her hard, a smile on her face before she waved it off.
"I'll forgive that break of protocol for now." She then looked down at Jack. "Congratulations agent. Excellent work under incredible circumstances. I'd be doing a lot more right now, but I've got to deal with those who put you in them."
She turned, walking forward, only for a sudden. "-Oh cuss me, the cussing army is here," to break through the night.
Lt Vixen stared at the unimpressed look on Dr Clara Bloom's face. "I don't even know you," she said, walking on only to pause, looking at the wounded bear on the floor. "Reasonable effort, but…" She pulled up a small screen and followed it on, taking a look into the van and freezing.
She glanced back at the pair. "Next time I advise you don't tranquilise your field medic."
"Apologies if the lesson isn't learnt," came a voice from inside, Bentley wheeling himself out. He faced off against the vixen, her teeth baring as she growled at him. The turtle nodded. "I understand that you will probably never forgive me for putting those under you at what you clearly perceive as a completely intolerable risk. So I think we can both agree that it isn't even worth the effort to reconcile, and it would be better off if we just got onto useful business."
"Sure, when I have you locked up on a black site I can take all the time I want to rant at you…" She froze, eyes half lidding as she turned to see Dr Clara Bloom pointing a tranq gun at her.
"-Two minutes here and you spooks are already threatening people with the black sites. I think I find my attitude justified"
The red fox vixen rolled her eyes, turning back to the turtle. "You agree to share with us your systems, completely unaltered or edited, revealing to us each and every gap we have in our system and others theirs. Enemy or friend. You provide us with the data you have on the brainwashed mammals. You tell us everything we need to know about this Clockwerk thing… -We already have some forces on the way to search the wreck site for the lost talisman, and to the shore in case the wolf survived. You give the sheep back, I'll argue for him to be set up in a little home in the middle of nowhere over this. -Oh, and you pay to repair the helicopter!"
The turtle paused, turning around and rooting around in a drawer before tossing out a usb drive. "Your data." Then another. "A copy of what Carmelita got from Lord Shen." And then a small key.
The vixen paused, blinking at it. "What's this?"
"A fellow thief we used to know sadly passed away a few years ago. Either way, that leads to a storage unit on the outskirts of Bykgozscs Poland where he currently has the original Amber Room loaded in a set of wooden crates."
She looked at him, blinking.
"That should more than pay off the helicopter repairs and be a PR triumph or something. Us thieves don't carry helicopter repair levels of loose change around. If you consider it too generous and want to give us spare change, maybe hire your sister and her mechanic shop on our behalf." The turtle paused, gesturing around to the chaotic mess inside the vehicle, contents and items strewn across the floor, even the carpet itself folded over in places. From both being tipped over by the polar bears and then back upright by Murray. "My partner and I have very recently conferred and come to the agreement that a self-righting mechanism for our vehicle would be a prudent tactical investment. Various robot battle shows should provide ample design inspiration for how such a thing could operate."
The vixen paused, scratching her head for a second before blinking as she saw the skunk behind him. Turning back to Dr Bloom, sighing as she saw the wolf still standing off against her, she focussed on Inspector Carmelita. "I presume from their Natural History Museum lapels that you failed to stop them taking whatever it was they wanted from there?"
The vixen nodded.
"Any idea what it is?"
She shrugged. "No. For all I know it could repel their broken talisman."
"Do you know where it is, we could still operate a strike force, get it back. However much you don't like the army having control of this, I think you'll agree it is by far the lesser of the evils."
"No," she sighed, scratching her head. "Sorry, I…"
"-I tried to track Dr Silverfox's phone," Bentley cut in. "Turns out they dumped it on the streets of Savannah Central."
Carm hissed, but it was Dr Soren who spoke out first. "But… Why do they need him? I mean, presuming all this craziness you've briefed us on is true…" She just threw her paws up at that. "-Even if he is, Egyptology isn't his field of study. He just knows the basic alphabet, no more advanced than what anyone can do with the internet."
"But that thing has things in Egyptian on it, correct?" Jack asked, leaning in. "I mean, I've seen it, it looked…"
"No," Dr Soren stressed. "Egyptian hieroglyphics, but it was english! It's… Like… Using the cyrillic alphabet not to write something in russian, but something that a russian would say out loud and would sound english. -At least that's what he described it as. He thought it was a joke."
"Dr Soren," Dr Bloom said, cutting in. "I had previously suspected that that thing had undergone some form of time travel, and these mammals and non-mammal have confirmed that such technology exists… Right now, just suspend all disbelief. -Go full lizard monsters or Rabbit Replacement Theory for all I care. Just tell us everything you remember."
"I… The bit he translated was just 'Contents: One.' or something like that."
"Something like that?" Carmelita asked, pressing in.
"I…" She groaned, pulling out her phone and typing in. A few seconds later after typing in, she clicked on the email and looked back. "Contents: One Happy Camper, there, are you…"
She froze, seeing the wide eyes on Bentley. Behind him, Murray looked just as shocked.
And then a wide smile grew on their faces.
The skunk tilted her head. "Uh…"
Carmelita shared in their confusion for a second or two before she blinked twice, suddenly buckling, a paw to her heart. Her muzzle was pulling back, she was panting faster, a huge disbelieving smile on her face. She braced herself against the door frame of the van, Clara having to come over to stop her fully collapsing.
"I…" The skunk blinked, head snapping between them. "I presume you don't want to be there to see him open it?"
"Oh no," Carmelita said, pulling herself up. She had a mad grin on her face, even as the odd tear trickled down from the corner of her eye. "Believe me, I would give anything to be there when he lays his eyes on what I think is inside."