Chapter 3

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"Chief Bogo, would you say that there were not other methods in which you could have approached said mammals and the supposed warrant for your arrest?"

Looking up, the cape buffalo nodded. "Indeed, there likely were. But I was under a high stress environment. Need I remind you that I was reacting off of three officers under my supervision being kitnapped, and a brutal chemical attack on a large number of others."

"But," one of the councillors, a shrew from one of the Little Rodentia wards, began. He steeled his fingers, looking up at the chief, Bogo glaring hard in return. It didn't matter that Big was locked away, his empire wilted and gone, its shadow still remained and those under his wing still had their animosity to their enemies. "Wasn't it at least an hour after those events took place that you were met with this warrant?"

"Fake warrant," a different councillor, a red panda from the Old Growth City neighbourhood of the Rainforest District corrected.

"I have seen it, it looks real to me," he countered.

"As you can probably guess, we were still in the damage control phase," Bogo said sternly. "As for the warrant looking real, I could most assuredly know that it was fake…"

"-How?" the shrew pressed. "By that argument, any mammal on the street could question the ones they're served with. Rules for the little guys but not the big mammals, huh?"

"Well, Councillor…" Bogo peered through his glasses, narrowing his eyes and over-studying his nametag for a second. "-Piccola," he said, seeing the wince up of the shrew's face as he made a tactical letter change to the end of his name. "If you were to be served this afternoon with a Z-45, would you immediately go about packing your desk up and moving out?"

"Don't be absurd," he scoffed, "It's completely different, I'm an…"

"-I think the point my colleague is trying to make," a new voice cut in. Jackal, well dressed despite the cheaper clothes. Started out as a chef in the palm hotel, made his way up to chief union steward of their's, and eventually the cities, caterers union. An inspiring story, were it not for the fact he'd been aided and took orders direct from the Sahara Square mob all the while. "Is that your combative reaction, though understandable, was unprofessional and set out a bad image."

"-Tell me, Mr Kabakarn, do you act all of the time as if your computer has been hacked, and is recording every action you are doing in order to use it to inspire a city wide uprising?"

He smiled. "On the recording issue, I was a union mammal, was I not?" He played a level gaze at the Chief, the cape buffalo rolling his eyes. "And also one who understands he is in a position of influence, one where seeming to break the law, even if he is in the know that the charges are false, is of serious issue. Should you not have gone with the officers? Should you not have played the game, on principle, and thus been able to defend yourself in a court of law."

"And let some of my officers die?"

"Chief Bogo…"

"How was I to know that that was not the master plan," he pressed back. "We've known that something was up for a long while, but it was always too random, too isolated, too small in its conception to gain much of a response. And in the end, when all their dominoes were in order and set off, we were left vastly overexposed. It could have been anything."

"May I point something out?" All eyes turned to the wallaby in question, who carried on. "Their modus operandi, as it were, was not to cause a rebellion." A round of protests and rebuttals came out, the marsupial raising a paw. "Well lemme finish, kai!" It quietened down, and on he carried. "Anyway, their whole end goal was to get the ZPD so distracted, they could loot the city dry. Sure, they used the rebellion for those purposes, but ask yourself this mammals? Would a city police force, already reeling from massive events and now with a leader arrested as a kit diddler been just as effective?"

A few seconds passed, before the shrew from before spoke out. "No!" All eyes turned to him. "It's absurd to think of it as anything other than the lesser of all evils."

"But," the red panda councillor asked. "Would you not agree that with so much investment, so much time put into the disinformation campaign, that Rattigan and his mammals would have tried launching it regardless? He could have easily reworded it, and made it seem like the Chief had been taken down, but us, here, would now be moving on to damage control. Killing the mammals we had captured. Telling the protestors where we lived and sending the mobs out to attack us?"

The room fell quiet.

"I have a daughter," she said. "We were sheltered in our house as we heard some shouts, some stone tosses. My entire ward was struggling to keep the peace, fearing what might happen if the mobs spreading out from the Sakhin Ziggurats had reached u…"

She was cut off by the sound of paws slamming down on the desk, a jaguarundi standing up. "Those our my mammals you are slurring, you elitist…"

"ORDER!" Bogo boomed, stunning the crowd into silence. "Need I remind you, it is I that am under review here." He glared at the jaguarundi, snorting. "I'd remind you that they would have torn you apart too, were you not so vocal in being their mammal. You were pulled into those lies hook, line and sinker, and we are not judging you for it. An amnesty I stated we should conduct, to stop this tear in the fabric of the city ripping any further apart!"

The jungle cat glared at him. "You cannot blame mammals for acting on the truth they know in their hearts from years of neglect and spite, of acting on the evidence they see with your own eyes."

"I know," Bogo said, frown turning into a smile. "In fact, I am so glad we could agree on this matter. Just like you, I acted on the truth I knew in my heart, acted on the evidence I saw with my own eyes. You know, it finally feels good to see eye to eye with you."

The mammal began to hiss, only for a loud banging to cut them off. All eyes turned to the antelope in the mayor's chair, looking around at those in his presence. "Mammals, I think we've heard enough on this issue. I for one believe that, even if Bogo did not act with the spirit of the law as it were, he did nothing wrong. And whatever mistakes of hindsight he did make, they are both excusable and more than redeemed by his actions later on that night and the morning after."

"-Hundreds died!" the shrew squeaked.

"And if I had ordered my mammals to fire lethal rounds from the get-go, then it would be thousands," Bogo roared. "Two-hundred and seventeen mammals died. -That we know of. Who knows how many smaller ones got crushed when the stampedes began. But I held fort at Precinct One, I held fort as elephants tried to smash in, I held fort as mammals attacked from behind and above. I could have written each of those mammals off and unleashed our arsenal to protect my own. My own mammals. And, when it came down to the wire, when my hoof was forced, I did just that. One flying fox. One bat with a molotov in his grip, who would have torched up brave ZPD officers holding the line, who could have forced us to start firing the lethals. Tell me, all of you. Had I done that. Had the ZPD gone about shooting and killing in self defence, killing far more than the rioters ever did, declaring war on them before that video that we had no clue or hope for came out!?"

He paused, eyeing up the jaguarundi. "How would the peace process be going now, hmmm? How would convincing the citizenry that they were duped, misled, tricked, be going when their friends and family were shot down by us, the unknown terrorists with their howlers, guns and toxic gas not having to lift a single finger. It wouldn't matter how many of the records and recordings and backups we'd have shown after that, scratch 'and Murana Wolford is the Dark Flame Wolf.' From schoolpups to OAM's, they'd all be saying 'and the ZPD isn't protecting kit rutters.' For those of you who accuse me of making a scar on your city, ask yourself this? How much worse could it have been!"

His booming voice receded and, for a second, there was quiet. And then the red panda councillor clapped, the second time her paws met joined by the applause of a dozen or so other mammals, including the mayor. And then there were more, and more, soon almost the entire chamber clapping loudly. Bogo looked around at them, taking a breath in, eyes lingering down. The jackal was clapping just like the rest, the shrew keeping up appearances. Only the jungle cat was abstaining, arms folded hard in front of him.

Finally, as things quietened down, the mayor spoke. "While a slight formality, we still have to engage in the democratic process. On the issue of the vote of no confidence in Chief Bogo…" He leant down, pressing the button on the screen in front of him. A few seconds later, every other mammal had.

Finally, after a second or two's delay, the mayor looked up and smiled. "-Fails, ninety-five percent against five."

The applause rang out once more, Bogo bowing, taking it in, giving himself the moment. Before, finally, clearing his throat. "I have a lot to say right now, but too much work to do it. If you will excuse me, I have a Precinct to run."

And with that he left, letting himself smile from the applause. It carried him with a new-found wind as he exited the debating chamber, only to frown a little as he entered the main foyer, slipping through the controlled gates.

On the other side, they'd done their best to clean up what had happened. Five days later, it still stank of antiseptic, just like the ZPD. Many of the wolves said they could still smell the lingering scent of blood beneath. The stone tiles were cracked in places, some areas coned off. In others there were scratches and stubborn browned stains still lingering on, however resolute the repeated attempts at cleaning them had been.

Much of the same could be said for the city plaza outside, though unlike inside city hall the more obvious damage still lingered. The trees and garden ripped up, scorch marks still present on the plaza surface, the odd car still left abandoned in the watering hole.

He stepped past one of the street-sweepers, still trying to polish out the evidence, eyes glancing up to the main station.

Still closed.

The last body had been moved out two days prior, and the hope was that the clean up from the impromptu morgue would be done in time to reopen tomorrow.

Finally, climbing up the steps to Precinct One, he opened the door and was assaulted by applause. Cheerings, howls, yells, foot stamping and paw clapping and all sorts else.

He let himself smile, just a little, as his fellow officers parted, leading him to the impromptu front desk. Made of wooden crates and spare tables, Clawhauser stood up and saluted him, Bogo leaning down and taking the microphone. A tap to make sure it was transmitting across the building and the force began to quieten down. "ALL RIGHT!"

He was taken aback as they cheered louder than before.

"What can I say?" Clawhauser chuckled. "It's kinda your catchphrase."

He rolled his eyes, his grin growing. "Settle down…" They did the opposite. "Settle down." Slowly they did, the room finally going quiet as Chief Bogo pulled out some notes.

"'Even though I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me'." He gave a shrug. "I am not the most religious mammal, but that felt appropriate. We have all travelled through the valley of death. We have all seen our enemy. 'They are legion, for they are many'." He looked out on his mammals, then gestured out the door. "We faced many that night. And what is worse is that they thought they were doing the right thing. You can say they were stupid, dumb, evil, idiots, I don't care. Because there's another famous psalm I would like to quote, only it isn't an actual psalm. And it is about us, it is about those who were out there, and it is about them. And what our duty is now. 'Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers! And you will know that we are the ZPD when we lay our justice upon you!'"

The crowd erupted into cheers, chants, calls out, a vigour greater than there had ever been. Bogo watched on, waiting for a lull, and carried on.

"To those outside those shutters, those weak enough to be misled and tricked, in here was the valley of darkness, but we shepherded them through. We shepherd them through!"

Another tidal wave of applause.

"And I know that amongst you, all of you, the fear of that night still lingers. Don't you dare deny it. Don't you dare deny that you go home to your house and cry, or can't concentrate as you fill in the paperwork. Don't you dare say you weren't tainted by the hell that was cast down on the city that night. And don't shoulder this alone. We are the ZPD, strong together! And now that, according to our intel, Padriach Rattigan has turned on his allies, has failed to gain what he most needed, for all his apparent success is still vulnerable… We're going to get that rat. We're going to bring him in, and we are going to give this city the justice it deserves!"

The cheers roared once again.

"NOW SHUT UP AND GET BACK TO WORK!"

That only increased it. Go, figure. Bogo just let them have it, placing the microphone down and pausing as he saw Clawhauser giving him a firm crisp salute. He nodded, making his way back up to the office.

They had a lot of work to do, and the sooner the better.

Mammals to capture. Mammals to rescue. Mammals to comfort.

And, when he finally got the chance to meet Chief Barkley of Interpol in person… -Mammals to yell at so hard he'd burst their eardrums, or so help him Murana Wolford was the Dark Flame Wolf.

Indeed, he couldn't help but remember his international subordinates explanation of this complete stupidity once again.

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"So, anyway… As Officers Wilde and Hopps have already learnt, I was not sent here solely to assist with apprehending Rattigan."

"-Sir, I assure you, I DID give the Rattigan case my all, especially when it turned out he was interwoven with this all."

"Yes… -Naturally. And I will say that there was at least one moment where, had I insisted on my priorities rather than deferring to Officer Hopps, we could have resolved a major issue far, far earlier, I…"

"-No, I am not passing the buck! And I respected my fellow Officer's choice, didn't I Officer Hopps?"

"Judy…?"

"¿Por favor?"

"At least say something!"

"-Fine, fine, back to the matter at paw. -I was first called to Zootopia after one of our web scanners detected an academic article discussing some unusual alloys in an archaeological find. There are dangerous compounds, techniques, arts of the scientific and supernatura…"

"-Sí, the supernatural. Not linked to this case. I advise you accept that we're spilling a lot of things we covered up for the greater goo…"

"Just imagine what any tin-pot dictator would do if they learnt they could use the bodies of their victims as a zombie army! Or the legal ramifications if we revealed that there's verifiable proof that souls can persist after death."

"I don't care if you don't believe in ghost stories, you're not in one now. Now, back on topic..."

"Right, automated alarm, classing this as a top, 'fiendish', priority. A fitting name, given this compound's connection to the former leader of the Fiendish Five gang. Clockwerk."

"It was used in his constructs, machines, supplies for his allies. Linked to him and him only. -We had no clue what this alarm was, a bit of scrap or a superweapon, so, using the cover of assisting with the Rattigan case I arrived in Zootopia and investigated the Museum of Natural History. The item, a large gaudy sarcophagus thing, was in the research annex after being donated by an anonymous source, some new unusual properties discovered. I arranged a transfer to a Parisian museum Interpol partners with, securing it from anyone who might intentionally or unintentionally trigger it. After that, I was free to assist on the Rattigan case."

"Yes! It was reasonable, glad you could agree."

"It relates to Rattigan as we soon learned the sarcophagus was previously owned by a certain koala who… -Yes, the MIA theatre owner who returned brainwashed."

"Yes. Brainwashed."

"Good, you're getting the hang of it."

"Did I ask you to enjoy it? Anyway, he'd been auctioning it to raise funds, some mammals linked to Rattigan putting in a very high early bid. They'd have won it were it not for that anonymous donor, in truth an independent vigilante working against Rattigan's group, gazumping them and convincing the auctioneer to close it then and there."

"No, Rattigan wasn't happy to learn about that, that's why he kitnapped him and hired another group to brainwash him into being useful, a group he contacted via 'Napoleon', that pig florist who turned out to be a former cult leader who faked his death. Due to his previous political leanings, 'Napoleon' knew a pair of DPRK agents, a squirrel and a hedgehog, who in turn were able to contact this mercenary group, ELSA… -Or rather L-S-A, who supplied Rattigan with some intelligence of interest and did the koala brainwashing for him."

"-Ah, well given that we now know Rattigan's plan was to kick off city wide riots as a distraction, he had the koala brainwashed to make it seem like he was based in some of those poor neighbourhoods. Get the ZPD to charge in, stoke up the anger, more sparks to the tinderbox. Though in reality the mercenaries brainwashed him to serve their own ends… -Anyway, I had learnt that Rattigan was interested in acquiring Clockwerk tech as part of his plan. Both that, and a certain small metal talisman that Kozlov… -Yes, that one, wore as a necklace. -Even giving it to Officer Hopps for safekeeping while he travelled to Ewekraine."

"Yes and no, while we hadn't seen one like it before, past experience at a site in Bolvangar, Svalbard, led us to believe something like it existed. Hence our pursuit to try and get Kozlov and his talisman to safety, especially with both Rattigan and the wolf mercenary group hunting it for their own reasons."

"Who Clockwerk is… -I suppose it's best to start from the beginning. My job at interpol began when the young thief, Sly Cooper, arrived on the scene after running away from his orphanage at around sixteen-seventeen… -The Cooper's were a legendary thieving lineage. Outlaws, spies, pirates. Connor Cooper was murdered with his wife, but what Interpol didn't pay attention to was his son. -We could have intervened then and there but, well, I suppose Sly was just some raccoon kit in the care system until he made his intention to follow the family's legacy clear. As I pursued him, I strove to learn more about him. What happened to his family, the training he received… Making a key dossier, pinning his family's murder on the Fiendish Five, an infamous outlaw group of whom we had notable information on four members…"

"-Indeed. A few mentions, the odd whispers, you almost felt Clockwerk by the voids he created rather than his own presence. Regardless, these crooks all deserved to be taken down, even more than Cooper, though I confess I had a… Tunnel vision as it were. Especially after he broke into Interpol headquarters, stole that dossier, and…"

"-YESSSS… -I fried the entire carpool with my… -Do you want to hear this or not?"

"You want to… -d'abord Emily à Paris, puis ça. -Why am I not…"

"You ACTUALLY like… -It's not funny Wilde! I… Urghhh…."

"I pursued Sly through each of his attacks on the Fiendish Five, sometimes halfway to one location before hearing reports of him at a different one. Sometimes battling him in person. Every time cleaning up after. -Until the final round, China. After that, one left, location unknown. However, we found similar technology both there and in Haiti. Supplied by the fifth member. -And while the Cooper's had a tech genius on their team, we had a team of genius techs and, when we learnt that the materials could only come from one of the most utterly remote corners of the world, we could hire a jet and sweep our team there far ahead of him. I had intended to apprehend the fifth member, then lie in wait for Cooper. As it turned out, I was the one to be apprehended."

"-Running theme!? -It's NOT… Stop laughing Wilde! Yesterday was…"

"-You started it!"

"Judy, Judy wait, I'm -OW! -Look he's still laugh… -OW!"

"Conejita Loca… -Regardless, I was used as bait for Sly, who Clockwerk then gassed. Were it not for their hacker, Bentley, shutting it off he'd have succeeded."

"-I, I suppose it was. Maybe they just don't have good poison gas over in the Russian far east. Either way, we busted out, agreeing on a brief truce. Take down Clockwerk, Sly gets a ten second head start. Our attacks had destabilised a lot of his infrastructure, Sly raced to recover my jetpack…

"-If you want one, take it up with your politicians, not me!"

"I don't care if Wilde nags you, you're the Chief of Police. Get one for…"

"I can see he's doing it already!"

"You're the one in charge of him! What am I supposed to do, tell him to go to the naughty corner?"

"-Judy, if he keeps it up, stick him over your knee or something I…"

"-Yes, I can see what I've just done. Urghhhh… -Anyway, Sly retrieved my jetpack, Clockwerk finally making himself known, revealing why he killed Sly's parents and left him alive. -He wished to prove that the Cooper thieving legacy was nothing more than the book they recorded their exploits and techniques in. Remove that, they were nothing. So we fought, my shock pistol disabling his outer armour letting Sly break it apart with the jet pack's missiles. Three times, Clockwerk crashed down into the lava lake…"

"-Yes, at the Krakarov volcano, Kamyaktcha, Russia."

"...'Decent style' is one way of putting it, Sir. Either way, after breaking apart his face and leaving him for ruin, Sly escaped once more, our pursuit continuing. A year or two later, we learnt that scrappers had retrieved what was left, not realising just what it was and putting it on display in a museum in Cairo. With my new assistant, Neyla, we learnt that the Cooper gang had found out and intended to destroy them. Both of us arrived only to find that a new group, the Klaww gang, had beat us to it. Stealing the remains and using the varying parts as tools in their own machinery. The game set off once more, only in this case it turned out that the Klaww Gang had theirs in Interpol too. Neyla, who betrayed me, and one of our key scientists, The Countessa, to whom I would be an intended victim of her 'rehabilitation scheme.'"

"Yes, that's the one. Hypnotic suggestion, brain reformatting. We thought we could cure crime… -Of course, our critics were right. If you can convince a career criminal to respect the law, you can convince a freedom loving activist to love El-Presidente. If you can forcibly recalibrate a sex offender's desires to the straight and narrow, you can do the same to a homosexual. Etcetera etcetera… -We saw the upsides, blinded ourselves to the down, until they bit us in the tail. More than once, seeing as L-S-A got hold of their own version of it. Either way, on we went, until we met the last member of the Klaww Gang. A sentient bird with a wing defect, he'd intended to use Clockwerk's body as his own, only for Neyla to betray him and steal his place. Taking over the machinery, far weaker than before but still formidable, we took it down once again, Bentley receiving a grievous injury in the process."

"I, no, the plans aren't still out there. What plans?"

"Oh no, Clockwerk wasn't someone wearing a mech suit or anything, though he might have started…"

"-He was a twelve foot tall millenia old robo owl sustained on a diet of pure hatred for the Cooper family."

"Just… 'Right?'"

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"You're taking that better than I thought."

"Pi… -Not on me right now, but it did happen. I promise."

"It DID happen, I DO have pics, I… -Ask Barkley!"

"Fine, let me…"

"Hello? Barkley? I… -Do YOU know what time it is HERE?"

"No you're not."

.

"I KNOW it's lunch time over… -I don't care about union regulations, I need pics of Clockwerk."

"Yes. To show Bogo. Right."

"Let me just…"

"Here."

"Sir are you… -Cover my ea…."

"OKAY, GUESS YOU NEEDED… -WHAT? ¿QUÉ? I need some time to…"

"Okay, I might have permanent hearing damage after tonight, but I can go on. Anyway, during the battle with 'Clock-La.' -What? Again please? Urghhh, Yes, we called it that Wilde. We believe that Clockwerk's consciousness tried to return and take over. We destroyed it before it could. Some time after Rattigan, pursued by Basil and Dave on an air-cruise, visited the newly reopened Krakarov volcano. A massive cover up had been orchestrated, but Rattigan began learning about the truth. What was there, the power it could hold. Meanwhile, a former member of Connor Cooper's gang tried to break into the family vault. I pursued Cooper there in time for him to retrieve a serious head injury. Tests showed he was suffering from amnesia, so I suggested a proposal to Barkley. Use him."

"Sí. The Cooper line, Sly especially, had a legendary status among the criminal underworld."

"-I suppose, though maybe with fewer pencils. Either way, a mammal of such skill and infamy on our side…"

"-Honestly, I don't know how long it took for him to remember everything, though I don't think it was long. Back to his old ways though? Years, only then when his paw was forced. Elements of his family history were vanishing, and gathering material for a time travel device…"

"YES! I KNOW! And we are NOT! Doing! Time travel! We've got high powered roaming computer viruses out there searching for and eliminating ANY potential research into it, it's just too dangerous. And I should know. Sly ended up lost in history. The Cooper gang retained one last device, so if they found signs they could jump back and recover him, but…"

"Thankfully, no. -I mentioned Svalbard before, and this is when it comes up. During the scoping work for the High-Latitude-Space-Telescope, some investigations were made to the caves at the proposed site. -A site with a grim reputation, the translation is 'The Fields of Evil'. We soon found out why. Deep below was a semi-regenerated Clockwerk body. We believe he'd started rebuilding right after Krakarov, only to switch, transfering his power into Clock-La when the opportunity presented itself. -In doing so though overextended and, once defeated, was left without enough energy to return."

"Bring him back and take over the body, yes."

"I'm certain he could bring him back. I want to slap him for thinking he could take control."

"Exactly. I suspected it, Rattigan suspected it, those wolf mercenaries suspected it. And Kozlov confirmed it. It had been looted from a site in Armyeenia over one-hundred years ago, one that many years later Dr Silverfox investigated, hence his persecution. Taken up by the Tsar's, Ratsputin, lost when they were slaughtered in the revolution. A group of students, including Kozlov's adult brother, rediscovered it, experimented with it, his first encounter. And when isolated, Clockwerk executed them for the slight, setting Kozlov on his long path. Finding out what, why, learning about the shadow and puppet strings that Clockwerk pulled over the regime, playing the shadow game back. Kozlov… He did terrible things… And brilliant things. In a game he couldn't know was so rigged against him. He and Jorin, the one he went to visit in Ewekraine, lost. But in doing so they still managed to short out that one talisman, and produced the shock pistol tech that allowed me to destroy Clockwerk."

"If Clockwerk survived falling into the volcano, so would the talisman. This isn't Lord of the Rings."

"I mean, there are a lot of similarities…"

"-I, did it try and possess her Wilde?"

"Pffffff, haha, you deserved that, -wait, Ju… OW!"

"Your Chief is the one laughing hardest here, you're not hitting him, are you?"

"-I suppose he is. -You violent Hoppetses."

"Ouch! I don't know what Folkein saw in your species. -Urgh, regardless. Yes, forced at first, Kozlov kept it on him all this time. Until Rattigan and the mercs both realised what it was. We were all after it."

"Not quite. Shen, the leader of the mercenaries, had no intention of reviving Clockwerk. He'd been scavenging his tech, his materials, and wanted to ensure that the real deal could never return. Thankfully, we were rescued by an army group who'd also been pursuing them all this time…"

"-She did not 'hand it to me in a fight'."

"Judy, Nick, I… -I can't get you a jetpack!"

"Right. They were destroyed, we returned thinking we'd won, only for Rattigan to deploy… Well, all this. In doing so, he looted both the real talisman, -we'd done a swap, and the sarcophagus. Only to find that the talisman was busted, and the sarcophagus thing…"

"-Well… -You remember how Sly got lost in time?"

"-He hasn't explained yet, but we're going to give him some time. But he did get the talisman back. We learnt a few other personal things."

"Honestly, I don't think the law is set up to deal with this kind of thing."

"Okay, maybe I do like him! And sure, if you can get a lawyer to find something within the statute of limitations, charge him. But right now, Rattigan won't be taking no for an answer. Even after devastating the city like this, all as a distraction for looting, he'll be after Clockwerk tech. We need everyone we can to stop him. We need every bit of help, every resource, every tool, every scrap of knowledge, experience and cunning we can get."

"YES I'LL ASK FOR A JETPACK!"

Bogo huffed. He did not sign up for ANY of this. No time travelling super thieves, no immortal robo owls, no species confused rats with delusions of grandeur. But like the chaos of that night, it didn't matter if they hadn't signed up for it, they were the only ones there to deal with it.

And deal with it they would.

And for once, he and Wilde were in complete agreement.

Barkley better deliver, because both of them wanted a jetpack.

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The white lights flashed past the exterior of the train cabin as they raced along, Nick sitting up tight on his seat, tail wrapped around his legs. Closing his eyes, breathing out, he opened them again to see the mammals up and around him jostling with the movement, holding onto the hand-grips hanging from the ceiling, bumping into each other one way and then the other, a Gnuton's cradle flashing white and black, white and black, and then a collage of reds, purples, yellows, blues.

A second passed and it went back to normal, the tunnel resuming outside and the mammals all swinging forward as the train began to slow. An announcement came and Nick slid off his seat, small rucksack clutched tight to his chest as he dove through the forest of legs, he and other smaller mammals making their way towards the door.

With a jolt they stopped, his leg going out to keep him up straight, and then, with a hiss, the door in front opened. He walked with the current, stepping out onto the platform and making his way along, paw in front of paw, pushing through those already trying to push on, towering above him or squeezing down and below. He felt limbs crash down nearby and a flood of movement down to his right, almost leaping in front of him to get demolished.

Ears back he made his way over to one side, stopping, starting, weaving, backtracking, through the streams until he suddenly found himself in the calm water. A bin to one side, a bench to the other, the station wall behind, the turbulent current in front of him carrying on as the train doors closed and with a few shrill notes it carried on forward.

The mass of moving mammals died down, gaps opening up on the platform, and the fox moved on. Walking, just walking, freely and easily. Towards the exit tunnel, towards the signs pointing the way. Towards the gateline, he tapped through. Towards escalators moving up.

He went to the right.

He reached the top of the ones going down and hopped on, standing there as he was carried down through the dark rock, and then beyond.

The roof of the escalator became a plastic canopy, the staircase reaching out and down into the void of the nocturnal district, a blackness filling the great space beyond, oil-painted with the glows of neon. Rock hewn homes and hanging buildings, clinging from the cliffs like swallow nests or built into the support columns and stalactites, lights on and bats flying in and out reached down beyond him, slowly tapering to nothing as he left them by, and the structures on the ground began rising up, soon towering above him. Tight labyrinths of building-block apartments, stacked up high, and into the ravines between them he descended, past lit up living rooms and apartment kitchens spilling out steam and shouts.

Finally reaching the ground level he stepped out onto the chill of the stone pavement, bumped along by those behind them and joining the chaos of the street level. Shouts and calls in half a dozen languages he couldn't understand, mammals walking along the paths with boxes of goods and produce stacked on their head, he swerved one way to dodge a capybara woman with three stacked boxes of pineapple on her head before swerving out of the flow going the other way, squeezing back to the other side as a hippo, taking up almost the entire street, came along the path.

Nick had to hop inside a small noodle bar to let him past, the two or three ferret-badgers taking up all the customer seating nudging over and saying a few things he couldn't understand. And with that, he left, pushing on. Past practically a new stairway up to the flats above or tiny shop unit with each step, past chatting groups of bats hanging from the webs of wires strewn between the tight alleys that made up the main streets, joining a trio of otaku skunkettes huddling in an alcove as an electric cargo tuk-tuk driven by a striped bunny raced past.

Nick gave him a double take, for a moment thinking it was one of Jack's species, before remembering that the hare was far larger than…

He was jostled to the side as one of the skunks squeezed past him, fur to pink, purple and bubble-gum blue highlighted fur, no different than if he was the fourth member of their thick, fluted tag-spotted jacket clad posse. She didn't say anything, not that the others could hear with the pink head-cones on their ears leaking out techno music but, even if their eyes were glued on the brightly lit smartphones in their paws, they got the message, moving out as one.

-He let the skunkettes move out past him, the fox joining along. Breath in, the cold wet air filling his lungs, breath out. Check his phone. A left here, move this way… Behind and above him a loud clatter rang out, a subway train racing out on a bridge spanning a gap between two cliff-mounted tunnel portals, cutting behind the buildings and rock formations as it crossed the void.

Nick shook his head, just carry on forward. A few more minutes and he entered a large square, cafe seating spilling out from the towering walls into a tight rock hewn plaza, a shallow pool in the middle. A cluster of stalagmites grew up from the centre, a paw desperately trying to reach out and hold on to its partner hanging down from the roof, water dripping between the two like tears.

He checked his phone again. Left. Further in. Further down. The stones felt colder, wetter, and he saw that the pool emptied into a fast flowing stream, covered by latticed metal grilles. Following it ahead, he saw the street straighten out and widen, any relief he felt cut out as he saw that it turned into a staircase taking him and others down. The roof of the cave, complete with hanging stalactites and buildings, fell down faster, the tops of the buildings coming down soon scraping, then touching, then merging with those rising up, the mesh of structures becoming a bared jaw and then a solid wall, just a needle's eye near the base leading to the other side.

The fox stood at the top, looking at it, gritting his teeth and pondering whether to check his phone for a different route through.

A fluffle of small grey and black striped bunnies chatting away in something he couldn't understand pulled him along and he joined them. Paw finding the railing in the centre, holding on tight as he began making his way down the steps, splatters of water from the now cascading stream misting his leg. More mammals on either side, smaller and delicate and larger and shaking, looming over him like the climbing buildings, tightening down. More bright lights, shining, overwhelming, fast buzzing and more screams and touts from salesmammals and the flutters of bats flying about and chirping as the slope got steeper, the steps wetter, steam and misting wafting from shops and blocking his view, the mammals closer and everything at one angle or another, off balance and tipping over. Tightening, clawing around his muzzle, the roof getting in lower and lower and the mammals around him tighter, closer, a badger burst out of a cell-like grocers cave to tout hs goods, a basket of a dozen or so coral-like fungi of different branching shapes and colours, pushing mammals closer into the centre and tighter and tighter and tigh…

The floor jolted upwards as he ran onto the level, caught with the flow, rock hewn ceiling, walls and floors in all directions, the odd glow of a shop or two only just visible, wedged in far away. Water cascaded down around them, the paths splitting to move past spluttering waterfalls falling out of neon blue or red or yellow lit shafts, filled with the fluttering and calls of bats, the water splashing down into carved stone fountains before descending on further with the fox.

Yet on he went, on they carried, even as it seemed they were falling again, the rocks coming in, the pressure growing and growing as he began squeezing forward, squeezing out, popping through like a seed squeezed out of a crushed fruit. Pushing through small mammals oblivious to the danger or big mammals looming like icebergs ready to crush, through the noise and the screens and the blood and the blued out…

Suddenly it was gone, Nick slamming into a metal rail and breathing out a long burst of air, sucking another in. Out, in, out, in, out… He felt his knees buckle and he fell down, the top of his head sliding against the glass and knees hitting the polished stone floor. His eyes watched as the flowing streams of water fell off the cliff and cascaded down and down, dripping and falling until they vanished into the great icy pool that filled the heart of the district beyond.

His eyes slowly rose.

Up ahead was the black vastness of the great central cavern, the nexus of the nocturnal district, walls and ceilings lit up by a soft pale blue glow. Scattered around like berries or flowers were more islands of neatly ordered white light or water-stained neon, on the walls, floor and ceiling. All orbited around the lake, a massive island in its centre rising up, tapering, then spreading out again as it rose up to meet the ceiling, from base to top lit up like a sun for the rest of the district to orbit. In front of him, in the air and on the paths, roads and shore, countless bats and countless mammals mingled. Free, open, space for them to breath, be alive, be safe.

Be safe.

He felt tears flowing from his eyes and turned, leaning back against the glass, panting in and out as he watched mammals come in and out of the tunnel passages in front of him, walking into the open maw beneath the glowing neon sign. 'Nhỏ Hang Con thỏong'.

To Nick, it might as well have read, 'March into your doom.'

But they didn't care. They just went in and out, in and out, minding their everyday. Foolishly walking in, inexplicably walking out.

As if there was no risk.

As if they didn't know what had happened at City Hall.

As if they didn't care…

"Mẹ. Cáo có sao không?"

He looked up to see one of the striped bunnies looking at him. Just a kit. Just a tiny, delicate, helpless kit. A single step. A single wrong step and…

"Mẹ. Cáo có sao không?"

He blinked. The little boy looked concerned, worried… Nick tried to say something, only to freeze… His mouth was muzzled shut. He couldn't speak. What was the point, he couldn't, he…

The bunny kit stopped, pointed, his mother, a bowl of hot steaming soup in her paws, freezing in place and looking at him for a second. Her nose twitched and she pulled him on. "Đừng nhìn anh ấy."

"Mẹ…"

"Tôi nói di chuyển!" She yanked him hard, dragging him along, his feet barely able to keep up."

"Mẹ…"

"Bạn có muốn gặp rắc rối không!?" She scolded, as she pulled him to her side. He gave one last look behind him at Nick, the fox shivering up into a ball, tail tucked around him, head and welded-shut muzzle hidden behind shaking paws.

"Mẹ. Là con cáo đi man rợ?"

She didn't answer. They just moved on, lost in a crowd, the fox left there ignored, invisible…

Good…

Good…

That was right.

That was the better way…

That…

He froze as he saw another group of large mammals exit the cave, phones in paw. Raising them up they immediately began walking towards him, towards the glass, towards the view beyond. He looked behind at the glass barrier and froze, a shriek of terror running through him as they turned into impenetrable security barriers at the end of the line.

Feet jerking to attention he raced on, making sure he was safe, away from others, keeping to the open safe areas as he walked down.

Space…

Emptiness.

Mammals around him walked along the wide terraces, taking their time, bats in the air flew wide apart, wheeling and using the space freely.

No fear.

Nothing closing in.

The fox eyed them enviously as he walked on, not even sure this was the direction he was meant to be going.

In the end his eyes caught a small set of waterfalls that he'd remembered as a landmark and he tacked his course to it. Finally reaching a new, smaller, neighbourhood. Different mammals. Different languages in the air. In front of him widely spaced stone-built houses were laid out on the lake-shore, neat little chain fences marking out their moss and mushroom gardens. He looked over to see a pair of european badgers outside a small cafe by a little quay, drinking coffee and smoking. One of them glanced to him, then the other, snorting. "Se ena Lisica."

His companion nodded, the two raising their paws and giving a short hello.

Closing his eyes, forcing it out, Nick just about managed to squeak out a "-Hi," as he carried on.

"-Hey," one of them called out. "You okay fox?"

He froze where he was, looking back. Finally, with a small smile, he shrugged. "Cuss no."

The pair of badgers looked at each other, one of them gesturing down to the water. Long, pale amphibian creatures were swimming about inside. "The olm do not bite you know."

"Seriously," the other began. "You need doctor."

"Therapist," he said, "And trust me, I'll be speed dialling her after this." The two sat down but kept a close, close eye on him.

He rubbed his face and moved on, walking through the streets until he reached a house like any other. Maybe with higher fences around it. Much higher fences. But that was okay.

That was okay.

He knocked on the front gate, waiting a few seconds before a tough looking peccary opened the door, hoof out. Nick showed his badge, got a nod, and was waved in.

A hoof on his shoulder held him in place. "-You can use my bathroom to clean up. Don't wanna scare them anymore, ya know?"

He managed a thankyou before being led along, slipping into the cramped little washroom and managing to get a look at himself in the mirror. The badgers had been underreacting. He looked like total cuss.

Five minutes, ten, he'd managed to brush his fur back down and felt… Better.

Not good, but better. He quietly spoke a few different sentences under his breath, making sure it still worked, working out of whatever the cuss all that had been.

Finally, he felt ready, slipping out and sitting down, thanking the boar and saying he was okay. He walked off, a few minutes later nodding and showing him the way on. He'd barely made it around the corner when he saw them and managed a smile. "Hey Mr…" He made a spitting noise and motion on the ground, Ash smiling back in response, nodding his head.

"Thanks for coming."

"No problem."

"Yes it was," the younger fox remarked. In an instant, his mother, kit in paw, frowned.

"Ash, aren't you too old to be having this issue with stating the obvious?"

"Yes, but I'm not going to have both him and Kris just sitting around not talking about their issues for the next hour."

Next to him, Kris frowned, ears going back and eyes glaring at his older cousin, only to get a shrug in response. Felicity began to speak, only for a paw from Nick to hold her off. "Don't worry…"

"Mr Wilde…"

"-Don't worry," he said again, turning down to the older two kits and sighing. "Yeah, I… Remember me mentioning how when I was a kit I was so scared for a bit I couldn't speak?"

"It happened again," Kris guessed.

"Yeah, first time in decades," the red fox said, throwing up his paws.

"Given some of the things you've been through," Felicity began, "I'd say it's hardly surprising. Please, come, sit down, let me treat you to what meagre supplies they allow us here."

That they did, Nick siding up to Kris. "How's it your end?" The young platinum furred fox looked up at him but didn't speak, seemingly not sure what to say. He looked okay, the only sign of the fraught escape from their old home being the cracked and chipped claws on his hand paws. But Nick was pretty sure he was hiding the turmoil inside of him, he'd certainly be were the roles reversed. In the end, he worked out an answer.

"As you'd expect."

"We're back on our feet now," Nick said, putting a paw on his shoulder. "And I promise. The ZPD is very mad, we have some classified allies who I've heard are more than a match for Rattigan and, however bad it may look, we think that jerkwad suffered a major loss. We're going to hunt him down. We're going to get your father back. I promise."

Kris gave a shallow nod. "Thanks," he said, voice trailing off.

Nick nodded, feeling like he wanted to say more but with no clue what he could do that he hadn't already. Instead, they hung there in the very same silent awkwardness that Ash had tried to avoid, only for them to be thankfully saved by the bell.

They all looked up at the fox ringing it.

"-I told you I'd get this to work," Mr Fox smiled, giving it a few more rings, Rowan's eyes lighting up and the kit giggling, clapping his paws in excitement.

Mrs Fox nodded and swiftly diverted her route, placing the kit down into a small fold-out play pen in the corner of the room, a kiss on his disappointed little face. Nick just pulled a goof face, waving at the little one before turning over to look at Mr Fox, the wounded todd making his way over and carefully sitting down on a well padded cushion.

"-It still hurts," Ash said, walking past.

"And that about sums it up," Mr Fox said, turning to Nick.

"-Physically and emotionally."

"-And I would like to state the emotional part is from the annoying regiment of pills I'm now on seeing as I lost a supposedly important tail mounted gland," Mr Fox announced. Nick nodded. He knew that Skye's father was on the same regiment after his violet gland had been cut out, tumour and all, though even if his tail had lost all rigidity and dragged along the floor ever since, he still had it. "As for losing the tail itself, my sense of vulpinitiy is strong enough to endure without it."

"Cuss yeah," Ash said, ignoring his mother scolding him for such language in front of the baby. "My father has an official bad-ass war wound he received battling a literal mass terrorist."

Mr Fox smiled. "That helps too! -Anyway," he turned to Nick, legs crossing only for him to wince, taking it just a bit slower as he got comfy. Felicity walked over, coming up close to him and holding him around the shoulders. "Any news on when we can bring the fight to the assigned rat at birth behind all this?"

Nick sighed. "No news yet, but I promise…"

"-That when you know where he is…"

"-Will we call in a mass ZPD strike force of only the best trained police troops at our disposal to strike him down, rescue your brother in-law, and allow you to be let out of witness protection? Yes, yes we will."

Mr Fox looked at him for a second or two before smiling. "Indeed, that was all I ever wanted or desired…"

"-Apart from the revenge and grabbing the thing back from him," Ash said.

His parents turned to him.

"-What, it's true and I want to be there with him!"

"Ash…" His mother began, only to be push aside by his father, giving her a gentle look.

"Felicity, he knows it," he said. "No point denying it." And then his teeth grit up tight. "I played the good little family mammal staying out of this, letting the ZPD do its part, and look where it got us. Homeless, imprisoned, wounded, hurt, -emotionally and physically. Rattigan robbed my nephew of his father, he tore apart our house, he shot off my tail, and I'm supposed to just sit here and wait? I'm very sorry if I don't like that."

Nick slowly nodded. "Yeah, I get you. I do, but…"

"-But what?"

"-Don't play into his game," Nick said. "-Don't… Remember those videos from Happytown? The ones that probably saved the city from tearing itself apart? They struggled against the nighthowler gas and their hatred knowing it was what the rat… -Tough luck kits, I don't care. -What that rat wanted. Needed."

"And what does he need from us, now?" Mr Fox asked.

Nick was silent, thinking it over.

"-See, he has extracted all leverage out from under us and…"

"-Then do it for Will," Felicity cut in. They all paused, turning to her. For a moment, she looked like she was put upon the spot, a cervid caught in a headlight, until she spoke again, all the more resolved. "My brother-in-law is a strong mammal. You can be assured of that. He would not help Rattigan whatever the case would be, unless it was us at risk. We're his weakness Freddy. And as long as we stay safe, out of the way, he can't use it to make William do what he wants. Us staying safe keeps William safe."

"-Yes, that, that exactly," Nick agreed, clicking his fingers. "He might have been able to hustle him for a little with your tail, but by now he'll have worked out that Rattigan doesn't have you. We need to keep it that way."

Mr Fox looked on, fists slowly clenching and unclenching, before a paw around his shoulder seemed to comfort him. "Please, if Kris, for all he's been through, can stay strong and calm through this, so can you."

He looked back at her.

"Please, for me…"

And with that he sighed, nodding. "If we're his weakness, then you are mine…"

"I try to be," she smiled.

They leaned into each other, Nick turning to the kits expecting to see a pair of grossed out expressions. Instead, from Ash, it was merely a slight eye roll of exasperation. As for Kris…

"You wanna talk?"

He looked up. "I've been thinking about losing my father again," he said, voice quiet, calm, level. "The first time, when I was by his bedside thinking he might be about to slip away, me losing him forever… And as I flew here, waiting for him to recover, knowing something might go wrong, he might tumble back down… -I knew that life, for all its wonders, can be cruel and unkind and so very fragile. Anyone can go to bed and roll the wrong set of dice and never come back. It's sad and it's cruel and it's unfair, but that's the way it is. There's no point fixing yourself on it, holding on, losing out on all else as you stare forever at the painful inevitability." He shook his head. "This wasn't a painful inevitability. A mammal stole my father from me and attacked the rest of my family, by choice. I hate him, and want to see him suffer. I want it to be at my paws, I want to go out with you and my uncle and make him suffer. I want to feel the satisfaction that comes from that, plain and simple."

Nick just looked on, nodding in sympathy. Mrs Fox swept around and tried to offer to hold him tight, but Kris just stepped to the side, shaking his head, looking even more determined. Instead, Ash nudged up to him and stared her down in silent agreement.

"Ash, Kris," Nick finally said, blowing some air. "That's… -Probably the healthiest thing I've ever heard from you. -And as a police officer, I swear, I will fight tooth and claw so you won't even have the chance to do that."

The kits looked back, Kris giving a slow nod. "Thanks.

"Same," Ash agreed.

The rest of the visit, though tense and downcast, carried on with no real issues. Nick held Rowan a lot, playing with the baby kit, while the older pair opened up a little and talked about some more normal stuff. Ash about how he was ordering a stack of new comics to burn through, Kris about how they were organising it so that Agnes could make the occasional visit. -They'd been talking on the phone, and his tail began wagging as he carried on about her. Nick gave a quick look at Ash, trying to work out how the red fox kit was taking it given the potential for bad blood. In the end he shrugged, saying it would be nice to talk to a familiar face.

In the end though, it was time to go, hugs given and promises repeated. Slipping out, Nick bumped into Kris one last time. "-You sure you're okay?"

"More realistically, I'm sure I'm not okay," he said, Nick nodding.

"Yeah, know the feeling."

"I guess, after all you went through…"

"-It's understandable," Nick finished for him, shrugging. "I… -I don't know. Thing was, a lot of stuff happened to me that night. A stupid amount. But it's the one thing I didn't experience, wasn't there for, that…" He trailed off, working his mouth over itself a little. "-Just, seeing it… At the end, what happened…" A paw moved up over the bridge of his muzzle, pulling down as he shook his head. "Ever think mammals around you are stupid, or blind, or can't see… -Yet I can't even scream out to them just how close it is to…"

A paw on his own broke him off, the fox cop looking down to a sympathetic Kris.

"Thanks, I… Phew, just a new phobia there…"

"-No," Kris said. "Phobias are irrational. After what I think you're talking about, it's anything but."

Nick's ears peeled back. "Thanks for that. Real help there bud."

"-You keep thinking about all the ways it can go wrong. Your mind running down each branch, asking, wishing, dreading. Trying to work out everything that could have been, might been. And before you know it, you're losing what might actually be." He let out a sigh, Nick nodding along.

"But your father lived, we got you out even if that serval cheated and hurt you, and you'll get your father back."

"-I, yeah," Kris was silent for a second or two. "It wasn't about that."

"What was it about."

"My mother…"

Nick's ears pulled back. "Oh, I'm sorry kit. -I know how you feel…" He shied away for a second. "My father died too, when I was young. -I don't think it was as young as you, but… -Well, I guess as the years go by, I see how it'd go like that."

"I… I always felt sad, but after getting out after that week… -It was far worse than it's ever been…"

"-Well, if you want to talk it through…"

"I was given a link to a forum recently, other kits who lost their parents. Even messaged by someone who says he's another silver fox, or rather he's actually a literal silver fox unlike me. -Talked about it too, he lost his mother too when he was really young. A little older than me. He's got more memories, but many of them were her declining. At the end of that, he had no-one." He fidgeted a little with his paws. "We both came to an agreement, you want to wish and think of all the ways it might not be true. How some miracle might occur and they come back. How things could be so much different. -You can waste away hours, days, weeks, years doing that. Or you can imagine them looking over you, seeing how far you've come, how far forward you've made it. You can spend your time looking back, or looking forward. That's what I'm trying to do. After all…" He looked back through the door to where the rest of the family were. "Even if I lose my dad now, I got them out. I got them out."

"We'll get him out too," Nick said. "I promise."

He gave the young todd a pat on the back and with that he made his way out, the boar at the gate releasing him. Bringing out his phone, Nick plotted a different route back to his home. One that'd take him far away from any of the tighter, more chaotic crowds. Not that he'd be able to avoid them for too long.

Pausing to pull out some salve and work it onto the itching welt on one of his finger pads, he brought out his phone and dialled a number. "-Hey Doc? Yeah, it's Nick, I… -That would work, yes," he sighed. "-Well, more things I saw the aftermath of… -Oh no, I was… -Yeah." He nodded slowly. "Yeah, thanks mammal brain." He gave a short chuckle. "Anyway, yeah. See you then." And with that he hung up and pocketed his phone, walking off through the great empty space.

For now, he could do with the comfort.