Chapter 5:

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The mouse blinked a few times, focussing his eyes on something off in the background. Narrowing them, trying one at a time, pulling his glasses off the edge of his nose a little…

"-As the optometrist said," Dave repeated, walking over, pulling Basil's paw away and pushing the glasses back hard onto the other mouse's face. "It's fine. Minor irritation to the external surface of the eye at most. No damage to the lens or the cornea."

"Sure, sure, I'll be happy to remember that when I'm feeling my way around with a cane."

The portlier of the two mice remained silent, staying next to the thinner as Detective Oates, silent despite his protective glasses, carried them in for the briefing. Stepping into the room, Chief Bogo, Inspector Carmelita, Officers Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps saw them and gave them varying levels of firm salutes, walking over to greet them and welcome them home.

"-Inspectors," Carmelita began, "I entrust you three are well?"

Followed by Judy. "Back and ready to fight I hope?"

Nick. "I'd offer you some of the Hopps home remedy, but I don't think it'll agree with your eyes."

"Welcome back Detectives," Bogo said, the three nodding in agreement.

"Yes, yes," Basil said, breathing in and out. He patted down the front of his coat, before guiding down Oates to place him and his husband down on the table. The horse followed, pulling out a chair and sitting down, an odd silent expression on his face.

One held by Basil and Dave.

"-Yup," Nick finally said. "It's true, all of it."

Basil turned to Carmelita. "And you and Sly Cooper…"

"At the Krakarov volcano," she said, nodding her head. "Sí."

"Well," he sighed, giving a shrug. "It certainly lines up with our rat's sudden change in behaviour, his disappearance, his reappearance…" He then turned up to Carm. "At the same time, if you knew that bear had one of the devices…"

"-I only suspected it at the time," Carmelita said. "Besides, the way we operated prevented LSA's forces from kitnapping Dr Silverfox, and…"

"-Which certainly changed the stakes we're facing now…" Basil continued, even as Dave walked over to try and calm him.

It was Bogo though who broke the standoff. "ENOUGH!" He looked at the mice, then down at Carmelita. "While I can certainly see the motivation to keep this information on such a need to know basis, there were plenty of mammals I would say were need to know who were not informed. Either way, it's pointless arguing about what could have been. We were snatched defeat from the jaws of victory only for two strokes of luck to reset everything back to square one. We need to focus on the now and get, -that, -RAT!"

He banged his hoof on the table, the two mice shaking slightly, Dave leaning out to steady Basil. "-Indeed," the portlier mouse said. "After all, I was going to say hindsight is twenty-twenty and all… But every second we limit is a chance for Rattigan to re-plan, reorganise. Indeed, he might have cashed in all he got from the looting and already made a break for it, moving over to retrieve the next talisman. I…"

A gentle knock on the door rang out, Clawhauser's voice picking up through. "Uh, Chief, the civilian consultants are here."

"Which ones?" Basil asked.

"Uh, the two acc…"

"-Perfect, just give us twenty seconds," the mouse said, before turning to the assembled crowd. "The following mammals are not briefed, though if at any point you feel doing so would aid them, be my guest. In any case, they liaised to us through Officers Wilde and Hopps…" He gestured over to the pair. "Who can personally vouch for them. -They believe they have the resources to help us in a joint strategy that can apply pressure at Rattigan's weakest point. His allies."

"I thought you said Rattigan didn't have any allies," Bogo said.

"Just mammals he seeks to use for his advantage," the mouse said, nodding. "Exactly. -You can come in."

The door opened and Haida and Retsuko walked inside, the hyena showing a few nerves but keeping them largely under check, and the red panda looking like she was about to give a career defining lecture after losing half the notes. Either way, they walked up, Nick and Judy nodding and giving them a thumbs up which went some way to calming their nerves.

Finally, plugging his laptop in and getting it working, Haida opened up a power point and cleared his throat a few times. "-Okay then… So, so far we've worked as independent tax investigators, helping to clear up a few businesses relying a bit too much on under the table work. Of course, after what Rattigan did to this city, we wanted to go out and try and bring him in. Isn't that right?"

"...-I, -yes, yes it is," Retsuko smiled, nodding along. She then walked forward. "So, we know for a fact that he stole a lot of goods and resources, he's taking that with him. But he also had a lot of foot soldiers who did the grunt work and need to be paid. Some will get straight money or gold jewellery and stuff that they can send to cash to gold services, but others needed bigger payments. Ones that would be easy to distribute and hard to trace." She sucked a breath in and let another out. "From what we gather, most of his helpers were polar bears left unemployed after the collapse of the Big crime empire. However, from the records of those arrested and captured, many of them were not unemployed. They were often small business owners. So, why were they throwing all this in with Rattigan? Because looking at their business reports and bank accounts, they didn't make a profit without Big. Or worse, they were never meant to make a profit anyway. I…"

"-I'm sure they know all about money laundering," Haida explained on.

"I… Right," she said, thinking for a second. "But with no gambling enterprises in his area, there was no easy way to throw illegally acquired cash away and get it back to the central organisation as 'honest' earnings. That's why many mammals, often older soldiers who'd earned Big's favour, ran luxury stores or establishments. -Jewelers, art stores, massage parlours, selling their products at a massive premium. His soldiers buy the product, the head of the organisation takes almost all the earnings via sky high rents. It works well for everyone, until Big is gone and now nobody wants to buy what is being sold and even with normal rents the veteran soldiers are facing bankruptcy and losing their house."

She clicked on her remote, pausing as a slide came up explaining exactly what she'd just said. "I…" She clicked it again, showing a few different suspected locations, all with one thing in common.

"Of course," Basil said, taking over. "They still retain the high value status as it were, and commanding insurance policies too. The result? Their products and residences are worth vastly more burnt, destroyed and looted than they are standing. And when Rattigan gave them the chance to make the easy trade they did just that."

He gestured to Haida, who flicked the powerpoint to a new slide, a set of scorched and ash stained golden rings pictured on a concrete floor. "These were found at the warehouse Rattigan was using as a logistics hub during the looting," Dave explained. "Dropped on the floor, left behind, you can see where the cheap glue has melted and let the fake diamond drop out. -Those rings trace back to this shop here." The screen was flicked to a before and after picture of the store, the latter burned out and ruined. "From what we gather, those were sold and insured for the value they'd be if they were pure gold and real diamond. The property was listed as being owned by one of Mr Big's holding companies, and has now been transferred to a bank. It was looted…" He flicked forward, the video showing a smash and grab by a set of polar bears. "By Big's ex-mammals. The owners seemingly not doing or trying anything to stop them."

"Yeah, and now they get a crazy insurance payout that they can sit back and retire on," Haida said. "If we don't step in and get them for insurance fraud first!"

Basil nodded. "Indeed, that's the plan. Rattigan believed that once the looting was complete, he'd be out of the city. Done. But now, it seems he'll be remaining at least a little longer. Long enough, hopefully, for us to pressure these loose endings into giving away critical information that will lead us to him."

They all looked around and nodded, only for Judy to raise a paw. "Excellent idea, only one slight problem. What concrete proof do we have that this is an insurance job?"

Retsuko turned to her. "I mean… We know what these polar bears were doing, we know these businesses were with the Big's, it all fits together…"

"-Yeah, and find one or two who were working with Rattigan, boom! What more proof do we need?" Haida asked.

This time it was Nick who answered, standing up and walking over. "Sure, things look like it. And oxam's razor, it is what it is. I'm certain a very angry jury would see polar bear and even an odd connection and want to throw the book at them. All well and good, and I'm not saying we can't do it… -Though apologies if I'm conscious of the fact that chances are we'll land on the one poor innocent polar bear family who didn't get involved in this and were just trying their best to run a business and now have to deal with the emotional toll of getting their business burnt out, their insurance withheld, all their savings lost, their father and friends sent away for years for something they didn't do… Yada-yada you get the picture."

"-Oh," Retusko said, her voice and tail wilting. "Does that… -Happen often?"

Nick shrugged. "Just… Healthy pessimism and sympathy for those not well liked by the public eye in this moment of time. -Here's the thing, the plan? Good plan. Even with only circumstantial evidence, your chances are good, but a good lawyer would be able to get the guilty off that and a bad one the innocent on. What we really need is a clincher, the…"

"Get them dead to rights?" Haida asked.

"Yes," Judy nodded, "for instance…"

"-The body of one of Rattigan's top goons?"

It was Bogo who spoke. "Go on."

The hyena smiled, clicking forward. A picture of a small store was revealed, burnt out and ruined. "So, this is the 'Tundra Town Boutique'. A very expensive and overpriced art and crafts store owned by the Krovstoit family. Osip, Melissa, and their son Timofey, who's in juvenile prison for beating up some mammals during the howler crisis. -Anyway, Osip would also be in prison now, if it weren't for the fact he was killed in action attacking the Fox family house. -We don't have a picture of that. Well, you do, but… -You know."

"Regardless, that connection is better proof," Bogo said. "I'd say we could leverage a deal where her son gets out early, he's up for first chance at parole soon enough anyway." He rubbed his chin. "Still, I don't think there's much chance she didn't know. We can push her for as much as she can give."

"What if she has a good lawyer?" the red panda asked.

"What if she has a bad layer," Haida replied.

"-What," Judy suggested, "if we have some evidence even a good lawyer would struggle to refute."

The civilians looked at her, Nick smiling as he eyed the bunny. "Her words against her words?"

The bunny smiled, looking up and over to Basil and Dave. "I'm sure you can work something out."

"That we can," Basil said, turning to Retusko and Haida. "You two carry on with your financial digging on them and others. We'll make it so Mrs Krovstoit digs her own grave."

They nodded, the two civilians leaving. Making sure the door was closed behind them. Bogo looked at the mice, nodding. He turned down to the intercom pressing it. "Clawhauser, send in the other three consultants."

"-Right, uh sir? There's this military consultant here with what she claims is some urgent news."

"Send her in," the buffalo said, before turning to Carmelita. The fox's fur had risen up, her tail flicking behind her. The Chief just raised an eyebrow. "I do believe you have a history with this mammal?" he asked, pausing as a door opened behind him, Sly, Murray and Bentley moving in.

"You could say that," she said, sighing. "Though as long as she doesn't gloat over her past actions, I suppose I can be magnanimous."

Bogo nodded. "I can do that for her," he said, the vixen glaring for a second as the door opened, Lt Vixen walking in briskly.

"Past actions such as saving your tail, I presume?" she asked.

"That would be the one," Bogo agreed.

Carmelita looked at her and just nodded, smiling. "Gracias."

Lt Vixen nodded. "Chief, Officers," she saluted. She then turned to Sly and the others, smiling and chipper as ever. "Criminals."

Murray huffed, crossing his arms. "We prefer thieves."

The vixen shrugged. "As long as I can refer to him as hacker, sounds good."

"I suppose that's a reasonable compromise," Bentley said. "Also, congratulations on the find."

The vixen nodded. "Indeed, I suppose that intel dump and the schadenfreude of not only finding the original Amber Room, but then donating it to its original-original home in Bearlin rather than back to Russia, mollified my superiors somewhat. -Just remember that they have predator drones and you do not."

The turtle shrugged, about to speak only for a paw on his shoulder and a look from Sly to quieten him down. Bogo, frown lines already etched on his face, turned to Lt Vixen. "Regardless, I believe you're here with information on that wayward wolf of yours."

"No. Instead we have news on Rattigan."

All eyes turned to her, the vixen pulling out a tablet, logging on and displaying it for all the mammals (and non mammal) to see. It was a map of the western seaboard, Zootopia's territory up in the north west and San Dingo down near the bottom. Along it were various marked out positions, Lt Vixen flicking through. A UFO sighting just across the border, something strange, angular and black crossing between the tops of the trees. A few more near the southern Boarigan coast, along with some reports of cars being stolen. Other remarks and similar posts going down the western edge of the Sierra Nevada. Reports of cars being broken into in the car parks for Yotemite and Squirquoia national parks, only to be found off the road, their tanks drained.

Other clips of an object flying at night, or nocturnal mammals spotting it and trying to film it, their cameras far less adept than their own eyes.

The last piece though, a dik-dok video taken by some hikers during the day, showed it in what appeared to be the most clear condition, though in terms of showing what it was it still left plenty to be desired. The family, a herd of pronghorn by the look of it, were filming across a steep set of gorges and rivers, unable to get closer. But, through the trees, they saw an angular object almost like a set of small pyramids covered up in a camouflage net, billowing and fluttering with the breeze.

"We believe that this object is one of these," the vixen said, turning the picture over to reveal a shot down aircraft on display, parts crumpled or blown out. Looking past the damage, it looked like an old F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter, black with sharp angular shapes. Only, instead of having wings and a 'forward' direction, it was perfectly symmetrical, four panel shielded rotors emerging out of each corner.

"Is that a stealth drone?" Carmelita asked.

"Very astute," Lt Vixen smiled. "And in this case I don't blame Interpol for not knowing about them, we've only had limited encounters ourselves. -Though I must correct you in one area, technically this is not a drone…"

"-It's piloted," Basil said, walking forward. "-Genius! That's genius…"

"And intolerably annoying to fight against," Lt Vixen agreed. "This has a radar cross section that would make a fly look fat. And given that it's highly manoeuvrable and piloted, a skilled set of operators can move at night, barely above or even below the tree line."

"Undetectable," Basil agreed. "Except…" He paused, smiling.

"-They need to fill up with gas!" Murray said, walking up.

"Hence," Lt Vixen smiled, "the need to steal cars and siphon off the tank, Bearfoot bandit style. From the few we've captured, I'd suspect that they're keeping it topped up as much as possible in favourable terrain, before making the dart across the desert that's coming up. Our monitoring has suggested this one is moving south, and will probably be able to reach Vegas or the southern border by the morning."

Carmelita looked at it for a second before turning to Bogo. "Get in contact with Kozlov, now."

He frowned. "Why…"

"-Because if this is Rattigan moving south, there is one logical reason. He knows or at least suspects where another talisman is, and he's on his way to get it."

The cape buffalo turned down and pressed his intercom. "Clawhauser. Get in contact with the officers providing protection for Pyotor Kozlov and get him on via video link now."

"-Yes sir…"

A few seconds passed, Bentley wheeling up to the table and unveiling a map of the world. Wordlessly, the mammals unscrolled it, weights put at each corner. Already, a few annotations had been made. The high mountains of Papau New Guinea and an area of Zebrabwe about halfway between Mharare and the South African border due south of it were marked with large red L's. An area of Armyeenia, as close as possible to Mount Ararat, was marked with a green tick. Svalbard had a red X on it, and the Pakistan-Afghanistan-China border regions were circled in orange.

"Any news?" Sly asked, looking at it and then up at Carmelita.

She shook her head. "From what I gather, the Interpol task force has only just started their search. I…" She froze as a screen next to them flickered to life, Kozlov appearing. The bear looked tired and worn, fur falling off in patches and an IV line in his arm. The prognosis was very good but recovery took its time.

"What is news?"

Carmelita picked up the webcam and moved it over, pointing at Zootopia on the map. "Our military… Acquaintances, believe Rattigan is moving south in a stealth drone. Travelling at night, they're limited by fuel supplies, but have reached around here. She tapped the point in question, then circling the areas he could move to next.

"He after new talisman?"

"That we strongly suspect," Bentley said. "I understand that you might not have knowledge of any other sites, though Interpol is already doing its best to find the talisman the cultists you encountered in the himalayas originally protected and worshipped."

The bear pulled in a long breath and let it out, paws rubbing his face. "I… I do not know… I, I know Siz… -Clockwerk once went in arc down, via Caribbean to Brazil? Maybe that location?"

"Haiti would have been to Mz Ruby," Sly said, the bear looking up and jolting at the sight. He wordlessly crossed himself, mumbling.

"Hey," Sly smiled. "Fan I guess…"

"You and Inspector Carmelita rid world of Clockwerk menace, in great battle over Krakarov volcano…"

"-Heh, that I did, I…"

"You avenge my brother and so many others slaughtered by great menace!"

"You can say that, yes," he said.

"World owes invaluable debt to you, Raccoon, ridder of the devil. Destroyer of evil."

"I… -Tell you what, I'll give you my autograph as soon as I can," Sly said, walking around and turning to the map. "But let's focus on stopping Clockwerk coming back, okay? Every second counts, every…"

"-Da," Kozlov agreed, sighing and wiping his muzzle down. "He is coming back. You need to be ready."

"We're not going to allow him to come back," Judy said, "We're not…"

"-You think you can stop it?" Kozlov spoke, cutting in. "I admire you. I do. But face facts. Rattigan know where talisman is, we do not. He take it, move it to wherever he plans to try and take over. He fail, almost certainly, Clockwerk returns. We know how to defeat Clockwerk. Shock pistol, missile, bullet. I do best to get together weapons to defend, we can now bring far more weapon to field. Clockwerk will return, but we will be ready."

Carmelita nodded. "We're manufacturing far more shock pistols, much more powerful versions…"

"We've even finished the systems you commissioned," Lt Vixen cut in. "My sister is busy mounting it on an old anti-aircraft truck as we speak."

"-But if he comes back and gets away, there is a chance he can patch his weakness," Carmelita followed on. "So we do our best to make sure he doesn't come back. If the Interpol team in the himalayas can reach our talisman first, we can find the rest, we…"

Kozlov gave a laugh. "Even if you find it in time, you have to work out whatever system Shen had to allow two to work together. Then you have to chase after Rattigan and find him, before he sets up. There is not enough time!"

"-Then what if we bring him back first?"

The room went silent, all eyes turning to Lt Vixen.

"What?" She asked, Kozlov frowning.

"Are you mad? Are…"

"-No, no, she's got a point," Nick said, cutting in. "Listen, there can only be one at one time, right?"

"I presume," Bentley agreed.

"Exactly," Lt Vixen followed on. "We find one first, we resurrect him at the bottom of a mineshaft, miles underground, with shock pistols and cannons to keep him suppressed."

"-And you take him apart?" Kozlov asked, eyes narrowing. "You rip apart his secret and use them on your own weapons? NO!" The red fox opened her mouth to speak, only to be cut off again. "Do not take it personally, I would not give it now to my own commanders," the bear said. "All that would happen is we have new Shen's. Condemning Clockwerk yet building themselves up as the new one. Wearing his technology, using it. The hate growing, they become what they decry. Is fact. That why Interpol take talisman. Carmelita and Sly, only ones who can."

Carmelita nodded. "Thank you," she said, stepping in front of Lt Vixen. "For your trust, for your faith. We will bring him back in his own prison and keep him there, secured off, ready…"

"-Nyet," the bear said. "Shen got one thing right. Put talisman on rocket, send to moon or out of solar system. Bring him back in space where wings cannot fly, and let universe be his prison for eternity. Where no one may be tempted."

Carmelita nodded.

"One problem though," Oates said. "What if he kills himself?"

"Huh?" Kozlov asked, as the others turned to the horse.

"If he works out he's been brought back in a doomed position," the horse continued on. "What's to say he doesn't… -Auto destruct, so that Rattigan can bring him back again in a better one?"

"That… He would not," Kozlov began, only for Sly to come forward.

"He would. For all he is and all he's done, for so long. He'd take whatever pain or humiliation it would be in order to have a better chance getting out with Rattigan. -He pursued my family for literal millenia! He turned himself from an ordinary, flesh and blood person into that rather than give in and just die. And to him, now, with these talismans death is not giving in. No, this plan to bring him back first won't work. Just accepting Rattigan will bring him back is far too risky. We have to find that rat and stop him. Then we track down the rest of the talismans, including the one the wolf took… -Hoping he doesn't try to bring him back too. We rid the world of him, once and for all."

The room was quiet, Bentley moving forward. "We prepare for the worst, but we must not give up on the best. Where could it be?"

Sly nodded, pausing before gesturing down at South America. "Somewhere here."

"Not here?" Nick asked, gesturing over at the Mojave desert. "Could it be in one of the pueblo's or…"

"-No," Judy said, "it's south of the border."

"Are you sure?"

"I…" the bunny began before pausing, looking off confused. Any reply though was cut off as another took the baton.

"I am," Sly said. "Rattigan… When I met him, he was holding our talisman. Complaining to it. About showing jungles or something. -That must have been it trying to tell him where to find another Talisman."

"That is not a lot to go on," Bogo said.

"Yeah, well it's the best we've got," Sly shot back. "And with her…" He pointed at Lt Vixen. "We might have a good chance." He pointed over to Panama. "He'll have to go down through this area… Across the canal and this… Narrow bit here."

"The Darién gap," Bentley said.

Sly nodded. "Listen, if we're going to intercept his stealth drone, that's our best shot."

Lt Vixen nodded. "Even if he's trying to cut across the ocean, that'd be correct. I can pull in resources, everything we've got, two barriers on the way down and two on the way up."

"-If," Basil cut in, "that thing about jungles is true."

"-And even if it is," Dave agreed, walking over to Papua New Guinea on the map. "Cannibal cultists here…" He raced over to the himalayas. "Same here." Then Armyeenia. "Devil worshipers here." He then began scurrying off over the Atlantic. "Wouldn't it make far more sense, given what we've seen so far, what with mammalian sacrifice and stuff… For the talisman to be based here." He kicked down a foot on Mexigato city.

"...The Azgats… The temples were broken apart and used to build churches," Carmelita said. "If there's a secret temple or anything, it would be found, it'd…"

"-Not be there," Basil said, turning to his husband. "An excellent deduction, but two minor flaws. One, due to its altitude, Mexigato city is not surrounded by jungle. It's surrounded by alpine mountains with subtropical highland forest on their slopes, pine and oak. It's easy to forget that this is all far up and thus cooler. And second, Tenochmiztlian was only founded in the early 14th century. By mountain lions one presumes given the name, despite its later association with jaguars. Far too late to be a site if going on what we believe, however…" He walked over to the Yucatan peninsula. "The Maya meanwhile go back a whole millenia before. The earliest parts of their civilisation easily predate Great Zebrabwe… And unfortunately, there are temples and ruins, often lost completely in the jungle, throughout Central America."

The room was quiet.

"That's not even mentioning the cenotes and other caves," Dave agreed, turning up to the video feed and Kozlov. "I fear, despite the grim prognosis, you are quite correct. We're going to have to be on the reactive again, we…"

"-No," Sly cut in. "We can't. -Listen, the Inca performed mammalian sacrifice too. He might be pushing off into Reino Del Sol, moving on… -There's got to be at least one of these places in South America, right? I…" He paused, feeling Bentley's arm on his own, snapping it away.

"Sly," the turtle said, regardless. "While in all likelihood there is, it doesn't matter if it's not the one Rattigan is aiming for. There are too many potential sites we know about in Central America alone, yet alone ones we don't know about. We won't be able to get Rattigan on the way out, but we might be able to get him on the way back."

"If he's coming back," the raccoon said.

"Consider the following, Clockwerk wasn't able to bring himself back because Arpeggio and Neyla's attempt to resurrect his original body allowed him an easier path of return. He began directing his energy into that, only for your destruction of him to leave him in limbo again. Without enough power to naturally return."

"So more power must be added," Basil said, clicking his fingers as he walked forward. "Potentially a massive amount if Rattigan plans to bring him back quickly. Which means, given he assumed he could return him with Kozlov's talisman, he must have set up his base or wherever in order to do so. We find his base, he returns only to find his plans ruined."

"If we don't catch him returning across the Zootopian border first," Carmelita said. "Listen, we won't be able to find and capture Rattigan. Clockwerk knows that Rattigan is his best chance to return, even if it involves a battle for survival. He showed the rat where to go in a vision, something I'm certain he wouldn't give us." She sighed. "As painful as it is for me to say this," she said, looking to Sly, Kozlov, Bogo. "We stay in Zootopia. We focus on finding his base, setting a trap for him when he returns, and arming up in case we fail. -And hoping the team in the Himalayas find that talisman first. If we bring him back slowly, keep his weapon systems under control, we might be able to keep him alive and imprisoned underground." She wiped her face. "That's it. That's all we can do."

"And what if he knows it's a trap and doesn't come back?" Oates asked. "We're all assuming we can force him if we have a talisman. What if he chooses not to?"

"I…" Carmelita began. "It's a chance we have to take."

"And what if he can just direct the energy from one talisman and use it to regenerate himself at a second?" Oates continued. "Rattigan might pour in a city's worth of energy, only for Clockwerk to burst out of the antarctic."

"It's a chance we have to take," Carmelita repeated, glaring up at him. "I don't like it either, but it's impossible to know where Rattigan is going, so let's stop wasting time trying to guess and focus on what actually has a chance. Okay!?"

…

"No."

"Hopps?" Bogo asked, watching as the bunny walked forward, staring at the map.

"Judy?" Nick asked.

"Rattigan wasn't the only one to see visions," she said.

"You… You saw where…"

"I think," she said, leaning forward and closing her eyes. Pinching the bridge of her nose, ears back, foot thumping. She jumped up onto the table, walking over to the Pacific coast of Mexigato. "When I collapsed from overworking myself, still wearing it at the time… -I think, I think he thought he could take advantage of me, I don't know, but… I had a dream, flying over the coast. A sandy spit, a lagoon, up into the jungle, and then down."

Basil nodded. "That could be on any coast, if anything I'd say it might be Belize or…"

"No," Judy said, looking in closer and then binkying up and landing on all fours, a claw pointed out on the southern coast of Mexigato, where the land was thinnest.

"How do you…" Sly began, before pausing as Judy looked up, chuckling.

"Because I saw who lived here. Hares. Lots of hares, or rather rabbits. Jackrabbits. Jackrabbits with stripes, or rather a stripe, on their face…" She traced it across her face. "Like…"

"-Jack," Lt Vixen said.

"Tehuantepec jackrabbits!" Bentley shouted, bringing up a map on his tablet. "If that's true, then the jungle you saw was the Chimalapas rainforest." Judy walked up to it and nodded.

"Yes… I… I went through there, I dived down into the jungle. That's where it is."

"In which case," Sly said. "We now have as much information as Rattigan has. And, were we to get a fast jet, I'm certain we could get down there first and beat him to it!"

"That, we can provide," Lt Vixen said. "And I also have jungle experience, in areas not too far from here. Indeed, I'm pretty certain I now know where the talisman will be hidden."

All eyes turned to her as she settled down. "I spent time in the Rangers around these areas. Small villages, rodent towns… There's no maya ruins or such there. Instead, you have bat colonies."

"Vampire bats?" Murray asked.

"No, they were always a solitary pariah species," she explained. "These were regular bats forming massive colonies in underground caves. In some cases, just holding on and huddled together like literal cave mammals. In others carving out vast new tunnels, homes, palaces and temples underground. Some of these have existed for thousands of years, the bats inside evolving into unique species with languages and cultures of their own. And many have collapsed or been abandoned. -Disease, war, especially when you had hostile bats facing off against shotgun wielding mammals who'd discovered just how valuable the guano deposits deep inside were. I've seen them abandoned, flooded… -Officer Hopps, did your dream include any diving?"

"N-no," she said, shaking her head.

"I can assume we can rule that last option out," Lt Vixen said. "But the point remains, we go there, look up records for caves in the jungle, and if there's one where the bat residents had… -Relatively abhorrent histories, given the location." She chuckled, the claws on her index finger tapping together. "We might just have our location. We get there fast, with a team of mammals, we go in, we get the talisman out. Bonus points, we get and capture Rattigan as we do so."

Bogo nodded. "Well, that's a plan as good as any, though given that I'm a city police chief and not in the position to order, yet alone run, an international operation, this will probably be an Interpol job."

Carmelita nodded. "Yes," she said, nodding before turning to Lt Vixen. "And with time of such an essence, I don't get to be picky with who I choose. You and any suitable crew will be welcomed along."

Lt Vixen nodded. "I'll ask command, see who they have available."

Nick looked up to her. "Hey, is Dave coming?"

The red fox turned to him, finger up. "Well, let's just say after his performance on the last mission, he's getting some time off."

"Probably for the best," Bentley said.

"-Why?" Nick asked.

"-Thick wool, sheep," Lt Vixen waved off. "Not the best for hot, wet jungle."

"Regardless," the turtle said. "Disagreements aside, we need to jump on this chance right now. Sly and Murray have experience in jungle environments, while I can provide intel support from a secure base. Officer Hopps must come, seeing as she might recognise areas, and…"

"-I'm coming too," Nick said. "If Judy's coming so am I."

"-As am I," Carmelita agreed. "We'd need one mammal down there who speaks the language."

"Which language?" Basil asked. "Because if this thing predates Spanish colonisation…"

Carmelita muttered a curse. "It's… Nahuatl right, the Aztec language? -But isn't the script untranslatable? Or is it maya? I know there's still native speakers, we might need to recruit a local…"

"-I think it was mentioned that one of the mammals from the Happytown Heights group was of aztec descent," Oates began, "If we could…"

"Except that won't work," Judy said. "They don't speak Nahuatl down there. They speak Zapotec."

A few types and Bentley nodded in confirmation. "So we get there and find a zapotec speaker to assist me going through the records."

"No need," the bunny said. "We already have one."

The room went quiet, Nick looking down. "Do we?"

Judy smirked. "How do you think I knew what they spoke there? Maybe not the best, but he knows some, and the one time I've seen him the most mad was when someone asked if he 'actually spoke literal aztec'."

Nick began to laugh. "YES!"

"You get it," Judy nodded. "After all, who do we know whose species comes from this area?"

Carmelita's eyes widened. "Jack?"

"That," Lt Vixen corrected. "Is Special Agent, Jack Savage."