Lots of things were happening that night.
The reunion that Chandler Manechester was doing on his parents' mansion. The revelation that it would be a murder mystery party. The attack that they suffered while going outside. All of the drama that was developing within these walls.
Mammals in there were getting to know each other better during the time they were spending together, and many were learning new things about mammals close to them.
For example, Chandler, Nick and Judy all learned that Ben's family was specialized in using their magecraft to read minds, and the plump cheetah himself was good at it. That came as more than a little surprise. However, none of them seemed to want to keep distance from Ben, as he was afraid they would if they found out that he could do that, even though he stopped actively trying to read minds when he renounced magecraft. This was something that really relieved the cheetah.
Meanwhile, Josh and Marcy were both keeping a close eye on that gazelle and wolf, as they now believed that they could be up to something, and wanted to be ready in case they needed to confront them. Meanwhile, Horne and Ogami continued doing their job, the one that Adrian Manechester was paying them to do.
Finally, Judy and Nick were on alert during the night, after the attack that happened. However, even that would not stop them from gathering in Nick's room with snacks and some soda to enjoy their movie night. Judy needed to admit that it was nice to have something to distract her from the problems, even though she was still somewhat alert while they watched their movie of choice: one of the older James Fawn movies. They would watch as the British deer secret agent would foil the plans of another evil genius, with time to spend some time with the movies Fawn girl.
Nick suggested the movie because he liked the secret agent and his movies. After all, they were classics. However, as Judy snuggled with him in their bed, as they watched the movie of action with a dash of romance, under the low light of that guests room that felt like a very fancy hotel room, the fox thought that he might not have thought this through.
Dumb fox. You dumb, dumb fox. Nick thought to himself, as all of sudden Judy's proximity was doing something to him, as if suddenly, for the first time, he had become aware that the one who was so close to him was a female.
Yeah, there were many things happening on that night. However, not all of them were limited to the events of the mansion. No, the world did not revolved around that one party and all of the events that stemmed from it.
There were many more things happening far from that mansion, as many other mammals were going on with their business, doing things, and dealing with their own complications and problems on their own end.
For example...
Earlier, that same night
The Hopps family gathered around the dinner table, all minus Cotton who had already returned to BunnyBurrow and her parents in company of her aunt, all of them enjoying the food brought to them by the very kind clerk of that hotel. It was not something that one could call room service, but you had to admit that the mammals in there really knew how to treat their patrons.
The Hoppses could easily see themselves getting in there next time they came to Zootopia.
Well, the ones who planned to return one day.
As the family gathered in there, they had all sorts of conversations. Some of them varied from some common themes, like talks about sports, or about some series, or about some book or something of the like, or even about something that happened a while ago or even on that same morning.
However, one theme seemed to be predominant. One theme that always seemed to bring attention back to itself, no matter what it was that they were talking about.
Of course, that was no surprise. After all, a few months is not enough for the heat to die down after you have found out that mages and magecraft exist.
Once they found out that the supernatural was really a thing, and that there were mammals out there with magical powers, who were being kept in secret by a worldwide conspiracy, of course that it the kind of thing that would definitely shake the status quo on the most amazing way possible.
This was the kind of game-changing revelation. The kind one could not to just shrug off. You could not learnt his kind of thing and be saying "meh" to it on the following morning.
This kind of thing had impact on everyone's lives. It was something great, epic, that changed the way mammals saw the world.
Of course it would be a subject that would be recurring during conversations, especially with all the things that steamed from it. Yes, because such a revelation would inevitably have repercussions in nearly all aspects of society. They talked about it on the news, on websites, on talk shows, sometimes it was even mention in their favorite series.
Yeah, this subject would not get old too soon. Especially to the Hopps, who were on the first row for witnessing new developments involving mages, and who found out that their own mother used to be a mage.
Bonnie, on her end, seemed exasperated with the fact that everyone seemed so much fixed on this. Not only the children there with her, but also the rest of her children and grandchildren back in BunnyBurrow, as well as the rest of the city. Knowing that the Matriarch of an important family in the small town used to be a necromancer was certainly a big deal.
Bonnie obviously didn't liked talking about her past as a mage, and she wanted to diverge the talk from this this subject whenever they started going that direction. However, that proved easier said than done, as her children obviously had a deep interest in this.
"So, how the raising of zombies work? Do you summon the spirit back to animate the body, or you just make them move like you are pulling on its strings?"
"Do you have to keep controlling them all the time, like they are pet lizards or something?"
"Did you learned other things besides raising zombies? Like using magic to find lost things?"
"Do you know how to hypnotize?"
"Can you use magecraft to heal someone who is hurt?"
"In that case, couldn't you have used it to heal my leg when I twisted my ankle so I would not have to drop out of the scampering team?" The one who asked this was nearly making an accusation.
"Did you knew other mages? Did some of them were your friends? Or you only hanged out with the rest of the necromancers?"
"Do those guys really use magic birds to spy on us back home? That cannot be legal!"
Her kits were being quite insistent in the subject regarding magecraft. Well, maybe that could not he helped since they were really curious about it.
However, Bonnie was not answering to those questions, and she made sure to try her best to diverge the talk to other subjects, even though her children kept asking her questions about magecraft and about her past. Including...
"Just what is the thing that these buttholes are accusing you of having stolen?" Jason asked, looking at his mother as he asked that question. "What, is it some spellbook, or some kind of old magical thingy?"
Yes, of course that this question would be asked. It didn't mattered if it was something that bothered Bonnie, of course someone would be curious enough to ask it.
After all, if someone accuses someone close to you of doing something illegal, you will be outraged in their name. However, it was hard to avoid the curiosity of knowing details about the subject.
Like, for instance, wanting to know what the stolen thing was.
"Was it some precious object?" Jason asked, "Was it some skull made of gemstone? A still beating heart of a sorcerer? Was it the bone of a deity?"
Bonnie looked away as he said these things, and now there were other bunnies kicking Jason under the table, to make him stop talking. This time the brown bunny got the hint and let it go, and someone else talked.
"Don't worry." Said one of the females. "We know that you would never steal anything, even from those jerks."
"Yeah, you are not a thief."
"If I ever meet one of these guys, I am going to tell them that they are looking at the wrong bunny."
"Yeah, you stealing something is almost as ridiculous as you being involved in that thing with the mall."
"We should tell the enforcers that."
"Yeah, they are all losing their time looking at Mom. She would never take part in something like that. They should investigate better."
Yes. Her kits were fully on her side, to whatever came. So was her husband, who said nothing, but held her paw on his own, in a silent promise of support. All of that really warmed Bonnie's heart.
The conversation continued throughout during dinner and after it as well. Even as the bunnies together picked the plates and set them to wash, they continued to talk between themselves about many subjects.
At a certain point, the talk moved to Judy, and to what she could be doing now.
"She probably is eating some very fancy food there in that mansion." One of the females said.
"Man, I wish I could be there." One male said, "I've always wanted to be at a mansion and to eat rich food. I bet it is way better than what we usually eat."
"Yeah, I am not sure about that." Another male said, looking at them, "I heard that these rich mammals have strange quirks, including when it comes to their food. They only eat some stinking cheese, drink coffee form grains that some bird ate and then pooped out, and even some weird-butt plants that you need to eat many times before you start to actually liking them. And all of that costs more than our tractor!"
"Anyway, it must be good being on a mansion." Another female said, "Especially as a guest. I bet that right now she is all calm, watching tv and drinking wine while she gets served by an army of butlers."
"Judy drinking?" Jason said, looking at the female who said it. "Yeah, right." The very idea was ludicrous. After all, they all knew that Judy was too serious to go around drinking. Even at parties, she never drank. She was one of the few of the Hopps children who had never got wasted in their entire lives. At least, as far as anyone in the family knew.
"But yeah, she is probably enjoying being in there." Jason said, "Eating fancy food and being served paw and foot by everyone in there. While we are all cramped in this small apartment and worrying about Mom and other stuff."
There was a twinge of resentment in Jason's voice, and more than a few bunnies thought that maybe he could be envious of his sister. Still, they all knew that Jason didn't really held anything against Judy. No, he was not the kind who would hold something against his own sister. He was loud and had this mean attitude, but he cared deeply about family, like all of the Hoppses.
Well... most of them.
As the plates had been clean, the Hopps now were either continuing to talk to each other or retreating to some other activity.
Some of them would be fumbling on their phones, playing games or accessing the internet. Others would be watching television together, seeing if there was anything they all wanted to watch. Some of them retreated to a corner to read a magazine or a book. Some of them would be going out to take a stroll on the city.
Those last ones received many warnings of Bonnie to be careful, who told them that Zootopia could be dangerous at night.
She even sounded like her husband talking like that, was what some of the Hopps children thought, including Harry.
The dark bunny was among the ones who were going out on the street. He had the interest of going out on the street, not to do anything specific, but only to look at the nightlife of Zootopia. The kind that he heard about so much, since the big cities were said to have a lot of nightlife to them.
He stuck with his siblings for a while, but the five of them eventually split ways, with the females going to a clothing store, one of the males going to check on a certain sports store, and with the more overweight of the males going on his way to the nearest fast food for herbivores. This left Harry to walk on his own into that nice neighborhood of Zootopia, looking at the mammals that came back and forth.
Mammals of all species came and went across the street. Big and small. Predator and prey. Mammals of all shapes and sizes all around, forming a very interesting picture. Harry looked at all of them and at the many places that there were around him.
It still amazed him how mammals of so many different species could live together and in harmony. Predator and prey walked side by side, and no one seemed to have any form of problem with it. The prey didn't looked like they were constantly worried about the predators trying to do anything to them, and neither the predators seemed like they were plotting the right moment to strike.
It definitely wasn't what Pop-Pop had described. It seems that the old bunny was wrong on at least part of what he spent his entire life saying to the young bunnies. Harry could still remember how he would be constantly be saying how dangerous predators were and how they could not be trusted, for they could turn on you any second.
Yeah, Harry felt inclined to believe that it was wrong, especially when he saw a tiger and a zebra walking across the street, paw-in-hoof, looking like they couldn't have enough of each other.
What would Pop-Pop say about that?
Well, Harry wasn't sure, but he was sure that the city surely felt nice to him. Maybe he would move into Zootopia once he finally got settled and had a job.
That is, if he ever actually found one job that he would not lose his interest into after just a few months.
Sighing, the Bunny looked up, seeing only a black sky above.
Back in BunnyBurrow, he could see the stars every night. However, here in the big cities it was hard to see the stars. It was because of the many artificial lights that came from the streets and buildings, making it hard to see the weaker light of the shining dots across the night sky.
Harry would miss that one thing if he left the countryside to come live in a big city like Zootopia. He really loved looking up at the stars. There was something about the night sky that just fascinated him. He wondered if other mammals felt the same...
Harry was mostly looking at the sky as he walked, seeing if he could maybe catch a glimpse of one or two stray stars that were visible above the city lights. Suddenly, his view was block by a branch full of colorful leaves came into his vision, cutting his sight from the night sky and making the bunny blink, as he suddenly realized that he had been walking for a while.
He was now standing in a deserted street, with no mammals besides himself in sight.
Harry realized that he had been walking without looking where he was going. He sometimes did that when he was deep in thought about something. He ended up getting lost doing that more than once.
Harry nearly cursed as he realized that he had once more walked off while distracted, and this time he had done it while walking on a big city! What a danger! Some car could have trampled him while he crossed a street like that, and he truly didn't understood how he wasn't stepped on by a bigger mammal.
Luckily, Harry was not afraid getting lost, for he was sure that he could remake his steps and find his path back to the hotel. So the dark bunny relaxed. That was when something landed softly on his head, and he picked it up to see that it was a yellowed leaf.
Looking up, he looked at the branch from which the leaf had come. The leaves in it where changing color with the season, and they were also slowly falling from the branch, as it was common during Autumn, although the leaves only started to fall off later, during the middle of November.
Well, it seemed that that specific tree was ahead of season.
The leaves looked like they were ready to fall already, and it seemed that a strong breeze would be enough to make them start falling.
A strong breeze. Like the one Mrs. Wilde had showed to them with that spell.
Could it be that the spell would knock all of the leaves out of that branch all at once? Harry chuckled to himself as he entertained that thought.
Now, how was that Mrs. Wilde had explained how the spell worked again? Oh, yes. It all starts with your breathing. Focusing your prana into your respiratory system, not to make it stronger, but to use it as a starting point to affect the wind. By blowing, you released magical energy into the air, and it causes the wind in front of your mouth to move forward along with your breathing. This way, a chain reaction starts, causing wind to blow in the direction of your own breath.
You are not really making a super-blow thing like in comic books. You are just using your own blowing to force the wind to blow.
He looked up at the branch full of leaves, and he whispered:
"Aspiro."
The bunny blew. Nothing happened. All of the leaves were still safely secure on the branch. They didn't even get ruffled lightly as if hit by a sudden breeze.
Of course, Harry didn't expected anything to happen. After all, it was not like he was a mage or anything. However, he found it interesting to entertain the idea.
What if he was a mage? Someone capable of doing half of the same amazing things that he had witnessed since he got on the city? Capable of doing the same things as those sorcerers and wizards from the fantasy stories and RPGs that he has loved ever since he was nine?
"Aspiro." Harry whispered again, once more blowing, producing no effect on the branch or the leaves in it... Wait, did one of them move? Well, it certainly was the real breeze in there; no way had it anything to do with Harry.
"Aspiro..." He said again, before blowing, imagining, even for a moment, that he would be able to produce a gust of wind with his breath alone.
Meanwhile, his mind, which worked naturally fast, passed by many thoughts as he looked at the branch.
He remembered the same leaves that he would see on the trees of his hometown. He thought about how he and his siblings would go around playing on the piles of fallen leaves, giggling and burrowing into it to hide from their dad when he was calling them to help with the chores.
"Aspiro..." More blowing and, once more, no result.
In the long days of autumn, they would lay on the piles of leaves. The image of the clear autumn sky above them, decorated by the naked branches of the trees stayed on his head for a few moments.
"Aspiro..."
The trees would be with their branches bare for the rest of the winter, looking somehow dead and ghastly. The branches could look like bony fingers just ready to snatch you. Of course, they would look pretty when they started to gather snow from the first snow of winter.
"Aspiro..."
Harry liked when it was snowing. The first time he saw snow he thought that it was ice cream falling from the sky in flakes. He even tried to eat it, what granted him his first brain freeze. As he was older, he learned that these flakes were in truth microscopic ice crystals, formed by the freezing of water droplets in suspension on the clouds.
"Aspiro..."
He saw diagrams online, as well as zoomed-in images of snowflakes, and they were one of the most beautiful things that he had ever seen. To think that these things once were shapeless raindrops suspended in the air and then frozen in place...
Harry could totally see it. He could picture it nearly perfectly on his mind's eye. He could see the drop of water in there, when all of sudden, it starts to freeze because it gets too cold. He can see the raindrop freezing and taking another shape, before it merged with other water droplets that did the same, and these drops of water made the perfect shape of a snowflake.
He could see in his mind, all of the process from the ice crystal of the snowflake forming. He opened his eyes.
"Aspiro..." He said, and blew once more. Once more waiting for nothing to happen.
However, this time it was different.
It felt different.
He nearly felt himself being blow back, as it felt like a sudden gust of wind was coming from his mouth.
A rush of wind that hit the branch so hard that it moved upwards, before it whipped back in place like the branches moved by the winds of a storm.
As the branch shook in place slightly, and it was now devoid of any leaves.
They had all been blow away from the branch by the sudden wind, which had the force of a tropical storm wind as it hit them. Now, these leaves were slowly falling to the ground, fluttering silently into the nearly empty street, without a single soul in there to witness what had just transpired.
With the exception of the dark bunny with glasses, who stood where he was, eyes wide and mouth agape, as the leaves fell in front and around him, one of them landed on top of his head, right between his ears, as his confused mind tried to process what had just happened.
What he had just done.
In another part of the city
A police cruiser was moving across the street, and it just stopped. The mammal on the steering wheel looked at the old abandoned place that was now standing before him, less than ten meters away from where he had parked his car.
"This is the place." Said a voice that was by his side. Marceli and Emilia were both standing on the passenger's seat made for mammals much bigger than themselves. Bogo looked at the place with a raised eyebrow, and he then looked back at the foxes.
"You sure? It looks abandoned." Bogo looked back at the place, which looked like it hadn't seen movement at least in the last fifty years. The front was rundown and covered in graffiti, the windows were broken, and there were pieces of the front that looked like they were just about to start falling apart. Yeah, that place had most certainly seen far better days.
"Places that look abandoned are the best." Emilia said, and Bogo looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "I mean, do you think that anyone would go in there to look for someone?"
Yeah, Bogo could actually agree with that. Meanwhile, Marceli was talking:
"According to our source, there has been some strange things happening in here in the past twenty-four hours."
Bogo now looked at him.
"Define 'strange'." The buffalo said to the fox, who soon was answering:
"Fluctuations on the local level of mana." The fox looked at him as he spoke that, "It keeps going up and down."
"And this means...?" Bogo asked, and Emilia was the one who was explaining now.
"When someone interferes with a ley line, it causes the level of mana to fluctuate." She said, and Bogo looked at her as she explained that. "Think of it like... Oh! Like throwing a rock on a river! When it hits the river, it causes ripples on the water. Now, if they were just throwing a small pebble on the river, the ripples would be so small that no one would notice unless they looked really close. But the guys are tempering with the ley line so much that it is like they are throwing a giant bolder into the river."
"And this generates a repercussion in the ley line as a whole." Marceli concluded. Bogo looked at the two foxes, and he nodded as he took in what they explained to him. It seemed like it was something.
"So, is that just a thing we are doing on the side, or is that somehow related to what happened to the mall?" Bogo asked, as he considered this question important. After all, it was the main thing everyone was trying to do now, find the ones who were responsible for that.
"Of course it has to do with the mall." Emilia said, looking back at the buffalo. "What, do you think that we would be losing our time looking for other things when the Association gave us a mission?"
"Evan Canis was seen in this place multiple times." Marceli said.
"The ex-technocrat with the Black Vipers." Bogo said, and the black tod nodded back at him.
"According to sources, he has been seen in this place three times on the last forty-eight hours." Marceli said, looking at the rundown building. "Two of these times were in the past twenty-four hours, and in one of them, he was accompanied by mammals who we believe to also be members of the Black Vipers."
Bogo nodded.
"I see. This Canis boy was hired by the MTC to do their job back on the mall." The buffalo said, "So, if we can get one of them to talk and rat into the MTC..."
"We will have a very real lead to find and apprehend as many of them as possible." Marceli concluded. Bogo nodded.
"Woohoo! This is so cool!" Emilia said, causing the two to look at her. "Combat, thrill and fighting dangerous criminal organizations! That is so cool! This is exactly what I had hoped for my first mission! Now we are about to break into the hideout of these Black Vipers and kick them on the head until they talk! Okay, I already have a plan to break in; it starts out like that..."
As Emilia explained her plan, which was quite something. The two males shared a look between themselves.
"... And while Bogo is firing darts at them while balancing on the chandelier and Uncle Marcel has blew up the exits, I'll be going on to-" Emilia was suddenly cut when Marceli put a paw on her shoulder.
"Sounds like a... interesting plan." Marceli said to his niece. "But, I have another one."
Emilia stopped and looked back at her uncle.
"Bogo and I will be going inside." He said as he looked at the younger vixen. "You will stay here in the car, out of sight, and will keep watch in case anyone comes."
"I support that plan." Bogo said.
Emilia looked at the two.
"Staying in the car and watching?" She asked, sounding like a little girl who was just told that she would not go to the park. "Are you serious?"
"If they arrive by surprise, we might be caught off guard, and that would be really bad for us." Marceli said, "We need someone to keep watch and let us know if there is someone coming our way, so we can prepare and react appropriately."
As he spoke, he reached out for something inside of his clothes, and gave it to Emilia. It was a runic stone, with a few runes written on it, and Marceli looked at her.
"I really need you to do this right now." He said, and Emilia looked at him for a few moments, before she sighed.
"Okay." She said; sounding resigned to it, as she took the rune stone from her uncle's paw.
Soon, the two males were outside of the vehicle, while Emilia stayed on the car, looking at both of them while she stood in the seat. The two were walking forward, in direction to the building.
"You don't think that this place is actually their hideout, do you?" Bogo asked the fox while they walked forward. "We are not going to go in the only to find out that the place is riddled with hostiles and we that we should have called backup before going inside, are we?"
"That's very unlikely." Marceli said, as he pulled his hood over his head, and pulled out his dagger. "But, keep your eyes open and treat carefully, just in case. And watch out for possible traps."
Bogo looked at him for a few moments.
"Traps..." He said, looking at the fox. Marceli looked back at him, and then he said:
"I am gonna go ahead, you come right behind me and stay sharp."
Bogo looked at the fox, and he let out a sigh.
When did his life got so complicated?
Soon, the two males were moving forward. Marceli moved forward like a shadow, his cloak making him nearly vanish in the darkness, and Bogo was coming soon behind, his dart gun ready, pointed forward and ready to pull the trigger in case anything suspicious was to happen. Bogo was still unsure if he would be able to do something against a mage in case of a combat, which was why he felt ready to dart anything that twitched.
The place where they entered looked run down now, but it was clear that the old house had its glory days.
The inside of the place was big. It was not hard to imagine that the place had one day been the house of some rich mammal, if the fancy style in which it was built and the internal area were of any indication.
Bogo could hardly see with so much darkness, with his already bad sight, and he had to rely on a small lantern to be able to see anything at all. Marceli clearly didn't had this problem, once foxes were among the kinds of mammals blessed with good night vision.
The fox moved forward into the dark room, illuminated only by the streetlights that came inside by the broken windows. Still, the illumination was very precarious, and Bogo caught himself more than once stepping on some loose plant on the hardwood floor, which was old and rotten, and occasionally breaking under his hooves. Marceli would occasionally stop and return to Bogo, telling him that there was no traps and that was safe to proceed.
The fox spoke as if he was sure of what he was saying. However, Bogo was still being very careful where he stepped. He had long learned that sometimes a scout could let something slip sometimes, and only realize it after the ones coming behind got into trouble.
No harm being doubly careful.
They moved across the first floors, and then traveled up the old, decaying stairs to the second floor of the building. The steps of the stairs creaked under Bogo's hooves noisily. They didn't break, but Bogo still got worried that the noise could warm someone who was hiding in the place that there were invaders, and that it could soon put them into a combat situation.
However, they found no one in there. All of the rooms of the second floor were as abandoned as the first floor. And on the very same precarious and rundown conditions, it was to be added. The whole place smelled like dust, decaying wood, mold and old stale air.
It seemed that no one has been living in there for decades, nor come to visit.
"Seems like there is nothing here." Bogo said to Marceli, as they both moved down the stairs. The fox said nothing in return for a few moments, before he spoke:
"The sources say that Even Canis has been in here before." Marceli said, "And it is clear that someone has been tempering with the ley line."
"It is?" Bogo asked, looking at the fox with a raised eyebrow, and the fox nodded, pulling out a stone like the one that he had gave to Emilia, but this one had different runes, and they were glowing in a certain pattern.
"The flux of mana in here is strange." The fox said to him. "It seems like it fluctuates, depending on where you stand. In some places, it is high; in others, it is a little lower. If the ley line was in order, the level of mana should be homogeneous in most of the area."
Bogo nodded at him, and he looked at how the thing seemed to glow more intensely in certain areas, while it seemed to dim a bit as the fox walked.
Marceli continued to walk, carrying the thing with him and watching as it glowed. At a certain point, when it seemed that he had found a point where the thing was glowing particularly hard. He stopped and looked at the ground.
The fox then kneeled into the wood, and started to feel around with his paw. Soon, he was finding the gables in there that demarked the edges of the trapdoor.
It was a rather big one, he needed Bogo's help to open it, and it revealed a staircase that led downstairs.
Both males shared a look, before they both started going down. Marceli was once more going ahead, to make sure that there were no traps left in there by Canis or by the other Black Vipers.
There were none.
As they walked, they were arriving in a big space that looked like some short of basement.
They walked in there for a few moments, before Marceli was able to cast some light in the place with the use of a few runic pebbles. It was a dim light, but it was enough for Bogo to see the room a little better. It was a big room, circular with around twenty feet in diameter, with a thirty feet high ceiling.
Bogo looked at the place, and he noticed that it also had the same smell of dust and stale air as the rest of the house. However, it seemed that the smell was less intense in there. As if someone had tried to dust the place a little bit.
Also, there was another indication of someone's recent presence in there, according to Marceli's words.
Bogo could notice now that he looked down, and he saw that there was something on the floor. It looked like there was something in there that looked like sticks, connected to each other by what seemed to be some iron wires.
Bogo looked at it curiously, and he noticed that the sticks tied by wires seemed to form an intricate circle on the ground. However, he also noticed something else. Something much more disturbing.
Those weren't sticks.
They were bones!
"It is a magic circle." Marceli said, looking at the shape that was formed by the bones tied with the wiring, which he would identify as not being iron, but silver.
"Magic circle?" Bogo asked, looking at the grim contraption, "The kind of things that mages do for their spells?"
"Normally they are drawn on a surface with blood." Marceli said, as he examined it closely. "But, sometimes it is made with other methods, like with certain types of metals. Blood is better, once living tissue is way better in conducting and storing magical energy for such purposes, but highly-conductive metals can be just as good, as well as bones, in the case you don't have other options. It seems that someone has decided to do this using bones."
Bogo walked around the circle, seeing how the bones had been tie to each other by their edges using the wiring of silver. The thing gave him chills, as much as it would do for any other reasonable mammal. After all, it was made of freaking bones, which could very well have been stole from some grave!
"Any chance you could say what kind of ritual they are trying to do?" Bogo asked, looking at the fox, who examined the circle. More precisely, he was examining the inner part of the circle, in which more bones had been tie to each other, forming complex patterns and even symbols with the smaller bones.
Marcel looked at the forms in there, which were making sense to him, and bringing back some memories of his studies and knowledges in magecraft, which he learned so many years ago while he was growing up. "Magic circles like that often have the function of helping harness magical energy from the environment to help with a specific ritual."
"So, they are trying to power up something?" Bogo asked, and Marceli asked.
"Yes, it is what it seems." The fox continued to look around the circle. "I don't see any specific patterns or clues in here that indicate a specific ritual, but I can tell that this magic circle definitely is to gather more energy from the environment. You know, this explains the fluctuation on the ley line."
The fox pointed at some points on the circle, where Bogo could see something that had been written in certain areas. It apparently was made with some kind of brownish paint. However, looking closer, Bogo realized that this brownish thing was actually dried blood.
Oh come on. As if it isn't creepy enough already.
"These symbols in blood in here." Marceli said, looking at the buffalo. "They indicate that they started something in here. Some kind of ritual based on that circle. They used it to affect the ley line and force it to ripple its magic energy, changing the way it flowed, and generating the irregularities that the source talked about."
"So, they already made the ritual?" Bogo said, and Marceli looked at him, shaking his head.
"No, the ritual only began." He said, looking at him, "This is clearly an attempt at formalcraft, and these kinds of rituals take time to be performed, often requiring long hours of focus and chanting of complex lines, which sometimes are replaced by multiple rituals separated in time, in the case where you aren't patient or dedicated enough for the long hours."
"Sounds about right." Bogo said, as he remembered something now. "They have done something like that before. The Black Vipers."
Marceli looked at him, and Bogo explained to him of the events that had transpired months ago, on the night that he finally accepted that magic existed. This really caught the tod's attention.
"You know, Bogo, you could have shared this information with us sooner." Marceli said to the buffalo, and the buffalo looked back at him and said:
"Like just you could have shared other forms of information with me and my officers sooner."
They looked at each other for a few moments, before Bogo shrugged.
"It is not like I wanted to keep it from you, anyway. It just slipped my mind." The buffalo admitted. "After all, it was months ago, and a lot of things have been happening lately."
Marceli looked at him, and he nodded, soon, their attention turned back to the circle made of bones and wire.
"So, think this thing will do something similar to what they have done in there?" Bogo asked, and Marceli looked at it, before saying:
"Yes, it looks like it can." He kept looking at the circle, "I mean; it is already affecting the ley line, so it is a proof that it can work, even though it is a sloppy job."
"Sloppy, huh?" Bogo asked, looking at the fox, who nodded.
"Yes, and I'm not only talking about the fact that they used bones instead of something better." The fox said, "There are some things in this circle that just looks sloppy. I mean, the general design of the circle looks like it was part of the work of a professional, but then you start seeing a lot of things in there that doesn't seen like they belong in it, like those patterns of bone and wire over there. And that sigils in blood over there." He said, gesturing at parts of the circle. "It is somehow like... well, imagine a very good song written by a very talented musician." Bogo immediately thought about anything from Gazelle, but he would never say it aloud. "The music is beautiful and everyone likes it. Then, at a moment, someone picks the song, changes parts of the melody and add their own verses to it. It looks like something different, but you can still tell the song it once was. Also, you can notice that it is the job of someone who is not a professional musician."
"The circle itself is clearly something from a professional, but it seems that someone has tweaked with it, maybe to increase its efficiency. But it was clear that they didn't truly knew what they were doing, you can see a lot of fails in here."
"So, it won't work?" Bogo asked, and Marceli shook his head.
"Oh, it will work, but certainly not as well as it would normally." The fox said, "Besides, with how much they have improvised in it, I would not be surprised if something went wrong."
The part of "something going wrong" was one that worried Bogo. He could already picture something on the morning journal about specialists still trying to determine the cause of the sudden explosion that destroyed half a block.
All of sudden, a familiar voice sounded.
"Uncle Marcel! Uncle Marcel, you there?"
Bogo looked at the tod, who immediately removed another runic stone from his suit. This one had the very same symbols of the one he gave to his niece, and they were glowing slightly. He held it close to his mouth and spoke.
"Emilia, what happened?"
"Someone is going your way!" The vixen said, her voice coming from the stone in a manner that, to Bogo, was not too different from how it would come from a radio. "Some dogs and a possum! They just entered the building!"
As soon as the two heard these words, they started to move. However, if the hostiles were already within the building, then they could not go back through the trap door, or they would bump straight into them.
They looked around, as if looking for a way out, or at least some place to hide and get cover, and Marceli was the first one to notice one.
In the far wall, hidden among the shadows, there was a big door, and the two soon were rushing to it. Well, Bogo was rushing to it after Marceli pointed it out to him, while the dark fox picked up the light-emitting runes, placed them back into his clothing, casting the room in darkness once more, before he once more lifted his hood and became a shadow, turning practically invisible.
Meanwhile, Bogo was able to move the door, its old and rusty hinges creaking as the buffalo did, and found that it led to some short of tunnel.
Bogo hid inside the tunnel and closed the door, leaving only a crack of it open, enough for him to hear what was going on, and maybe to see something.
And it was right on time, for as soon as Bogo was out of sight, he could hear someone talking as they came down.
"I told you to shut the trapdoor!"
"But I did! I shut it as soon as we left, right before I went after you guys!"
"Then explain how it was open."
"I don't know, okay? Maybe someone came after we left?"
"Yeah, right! Who would come in here? This place is abandoned and there is nothing in here to steal."
"Well, we are here now, aren't we?"
"This is different! We are mages. No mundane would have reason to come here."
"Oh, will both of you quit it?" Said a third voice, "We can decide on who left the trapdoor open later on. Right now, we have other things to worry about."
As they approached, Bogo could see some blue light coming through the open crack of the door, and the buffalo dared to look outside, to see who it was.
They were two canines, one of them was Evan Canis. Canis was the source of the blue light, as he was producing it with the help of a screen of light that he had created over his right paw, casting an eerie glow over the circle of bones.
Another one was someone that Bogo had already seen two times in the past, a coyote. That was Hudson Coyle. Next to them came a smaller mammal, a possum, one that Bogo also recalled as being the one who had stabbed Hopps with a dagger and summoned those snakes.
Next, it came another dog. One that Bogo didn't knew. He was a Doberman, and he had dark fur on his face with brown coloration on his muzzle and on his arms, which were visible due to his sleeveless shirt. He had a very small stub for his tail, once Dobermans were one of these species that had the tradition of amputating the tails of their young as some kind of cultural inclination, something that most other mammals didn't understood. Why would anyone cut off a part of their ow pup's body? The Doberman was wearing a ripped black shirt, a pair of long jeans, and had a long chain tied around his waist. He was carrying a box with himself, and as he walked, something inside of the box hissed.
"Okay, we got here late, so we have to rush to get this started, okay?" Evan Canis said, looking at the others, "The flow of energy will become stronger soon, and that is when you guys have to start doing your thing. So everyone remembers their part?"
"Of course we do." The Doberman said, putting down the box and opening it, revealing that there were iguanas inside. The lizards hissed at the Doberman, but he intimidated them by growling back, and soon, he was removing the three iguanas from the box.
Soon, the four were getting in position, with the Doberman, coyote and possum positioned around the circle, with the iguanas by their sides and all of them with daggers ready. Meanwhile, Canis was outside, casting light in the circle, and looking at them as he checked on something that only he could see.
"Okay, everyone ready, in twenty seconds now."
The three got ready to slice the necks of the iguanas with their daggers.
"Seven... six... five... four... three..."
However, that countdown was never finished, for that was the moment when Bogo tried to open the door to get a better view on what was happening, and of course that the door creaked so loudly that everyone turned to look at what it was.
"Who's in there!?" Coyle said, pointing his dagger in direction to the door, and Bogo cursed under his breath.
Oh, the hell with it!
Pushing the door open and stepping into view, Bogo raised his dart gun, pointing it at the mammals that were in there, as he said the traditional:
"ZPD, don't move!"
For a moment, the entire scene remained frozen, as everyone looked at the buffalo, who looked back at all of them.
"Now, all of you get on your knees with your paws on your heads." Bogo said, and all of the mages continued to look at him.
"I told you I closed the trapdoor!" Hudson Coyle said to the other dog, who was busy looking at the buffalo.
"Look, we are in the middle of something, do you mind waiting just a few minutes?" Canis said to him, and the cop looked at him with a clearly annoyed expression.
"Yeah, I don't really like giving privileges to suspects." Bogo said, looking at them, "I am taking you all for questioning."
This prompted some (the Doberman and the possum) to laugh a little bit.
"Really?" The possum said, "You and who else?"
As if in answer to the question, a shadow suddenly jumped out of the wall, and quickly was behind the possum, who was pull back and then could feel the blade of a dagger pressed against her neck.
Everyone jumped as they looked at this, and the shadow pulled the hood back, revealing to be Marceli.
Coyle let out a curse. It seemed that none of them was afraid of Bogo, but they all seemed to be far more apprehensive about the enforcer. So much that the Doberman was already halfway on to reach the chain that he had wrapped around his waist, but Bogo stopped him.
"I'll dart you before you can use that!" The buffalo said, holding him in the aim of his dart gun. The dog maybe not consider him a treat, but he certainly knew what a dart could do if it hit him, and this seemed to be enough to make him stop midway towards reaching the chain.
For a moment, the standoff lasted, as the other ones were in bigger number, but Bogo had one of them on his aim, while Marceli had his blade on the neck of another one (what Bogo thought to be as unnerving as the others probably did). This, in turn, seemed to be placing them in a deadlock.
"Okay..." Coyle said, looking at the scene, and regretting having left his rope at their hideout. "What now?"
"Now the four of you are answering some questions." Marceli said, and Bogo added:
"More precisely, we are taking the four of you back to the precinct to have you answer our questions."
The other mages looked at the enforcer and at the cop. Then, a chuckling was heard. It was the possum, and she then said:
"Five."
Marceli looked at her for a few moments, and then his eyes widened, as if he had understood what she said. Right after, he let out a cry of pain, as he immediately reached for his back, and this was all that the possum needed to get out of his grasp.
"Mieczyslaw!" Bogo said, as the possum now was facing him with her dagger, and the fox was force to dodge her blows as he tried to give blows of his own.
Bogo got distracted by a very brief moment, and this was all that the dog needed to reach out for his chain. Immediately, it unfurled from around his waist and started to glow as it ignited, burning with red-colored flames. Bogo turned his attention back to the dog immediately, and fired his darts at him, but the dog dove out of the way, before he rushed to Bogo and lashed at him with the flaming chain.
Bogo had to dive out of the way for the burning thing not to hit him, and he ended up losing his dart gun.
The chains missed him, but Bogo still could feel how hot they were, and he immediately knew that he could not let himself be hit by it. Now, as he was without his dart gun, he was facing the mage that now attacked him with a burning chain. Meanwhile, Marceli was fighting the possum with his dagger, at the same time that he seemed to be also fighting another assailant, which was too small to see. In the process, he lost a rune stone that he had, which was glowing, with Emilia's voice coming from it.
"Uncle Marcel!? You there!? Uncle Marcel!"
"That's it, guys!" Coyle said, "Show these guys how strong the Black Vipers are!"
They looked at each other for a while longer, before the Doberman charged first, while Bogo grounded his feet and waited for the blow to come. The dog swung his chain, which Bogo dodged narrowly, the heat reminding him much damage it would came if it even touched his body.
Using the momentum, Bogo used this change to charge back at the dog, slamming his elbow at his side hard enough to make him fall into the ground, dropping the chain in the process, which went off from the flames immediately.
Bogo was no strange to fight in close combat. After all, he had received the same training that all of the other cops did in order to join. Of course, as a Chief, he didn't went much into direct combat nowadays, but he still prided himself for remembering all that he had learned back in the academy.
Bogo knew that he should not let the dog have time to recover, and so, he immediately rushed to him, grabbed him by the arm and immediately put him in an armhold, causing the dog to cry out in pain as the much heavier buffalo had a knee on his back while holding his arm in a painful position.
Meanwhile, it looked like Marceli finally got the upper hand over both the possum and the too-small-to-be-seen enemy.
It certainly looked like the good guys were getting the upper hand in there.
And that was something the criminals couldn't just take.
Coyle yip-yapped as he charged at Bogo, leaping at him and grabbing his neck from behind. He was now holding into the buffalo's neck with one arm, while the other one punched and slapped at Bogo's face.
Meanwhile, blasts of blue light started to rain down on Marceli. Luckily, the first one missed his head by very little, making the fox stand on guard and be able to deflect and dodge all of the other blasts that Canis shot on him with his blue screen.
The interference of the other Vipers helped their pals, as the possum now had time to run away from the fox, while the distraction that Coyle had caused gave the Doberman the chance to send magical energy to his arm, allowing him to strengthen it enough for him to break free of Bogo's grip.
Actually, more than breaking free, the Doberman was able to toss the buffalo with a swing of his arm, something that Bogo would never expect from a mammal who was only five feet tall and was not massively muscled, against Bogo's massive eight feet, thick built.
Coyle let go of Bogo before the Doberman tossed him, and they both looked at the buffalo as he got back up, before they ran back to their pals.
Bogo was getting up, and Marceli had stopped deflecting the shots, as they stopped coming from the screen that Canis created. Now, they both were looking at the Vipers, both of them ready to do something.
That was when they noticed that all of them were now covering their ears.
They didn't had much time to reflect on it, for immediately, an earsplitting sound, something like a screech, started resounding, and it immediately made the two cover their ears.
It was loud. Louder than a siren. So loud, in fact, that they both felt like their eardrums could explode if they removed their paws/hooves from their ears. It was making their heads hurt from the sheer volume of that animal screech.
It lasted for a nearly an entire minute, before something happened that made the screeching stop.
Something landed on Coyle from behind, sending him flying as Emilia had slammed both her feet on his back on a flying kick. As the coyote fell to the ground, the screeching immediately stopped, and the cop and enforcer could now start recovering, although both of their ears would be ringing for a few minutes.
"Okay now!" Emilia said, unsheathing her dagger, which already was cover in colorful flames. "You guys just earned yourself a serious, Mieczyslaw-style tail-kicking!"
However, this didn't had the chance to happen, because immediately Canis turned to her and started to fire the same blasts that he had fired at Marceli, forcing the vixen into going to defense.
"Okay, that's enough!" Canis said as he continued to fire at the vixen, and he pressed some keys on an invisible keyboard, and immediately, a new screen appeared in the air, this one big enough for him and the others to pass through it. "Time to leave, guys!"
Everyone looked at him and they nodded.
So, while Canis repelled the vixen by forcing her to be defensive, the Vipers rushed to the big blue screen that now materialized between the two mammals who were still recovering from the eardrum-piercing noise that left them disoriented.
The first one to pass by it was the Doberman, followed by the possum, and then by Coyle. The last one to pass was Canis, as he fired one last blast of his screen at the vixen, before he turned around and ran in direction to the screen.
"H-hey! Wait for me!"
Emilia had just recovered, and she saw something in the near darkness, illuminated only by her dagger and by the blue light of the screen.
She saw something, and she immediately dashed for it.
As Evan Canis passed by the screen, he failed to notice that Emilia had landed on the ground a few feet away from him, as if she had just pounced at something.
As Bogo and Marceli recovered, the screen disappeared. The Vipers now were nowhere in sight.
However, a sound could be hear in there. Bogo immediately recognized it as the loud creaking of the hinges of the door.
Immediately, the buffalo got up and turned in direction to the door. He was still a little dizzy by what just happened, but he was able to walk steadily to the door while he reached for his flashlight, and he shone it upon the door.
All he could see was a long tunnel, which branched in two different paths at a distance.
Bogo could have chased after them, but he decided that it was not worth it. The Vipers were render invisible by the thing that Canis did. Bogo already witnessed it happen back in the mall, and he even read Hopps' very detailed report on how the thing worked, and the bunny was to be believed, once she actually experienced the invisibility thing.
So, chasing into a tunnel after enemies that he could not even see would be a bad idea, even because they were in greater number and could attack him in the possibility he was to even reach them somehow.
He didn't even know which one of the two tunnels they took, to begin with.
Letting out a curse, Bogo turned his attention back to the foxes, walking to them as they had their backs turned to him, and seemed to be discussing something.
"They escaped." Bogo said, approaching the two foxes. The vulpines turned to look at him and, surprisingly, Marceli spoke:
"Not all of them."
Bogo looked at him with a raised eyebrow, and that was when Emilia showed that she now had something held in her paw.
Or rather saying, that she now had someone held in her paw.
It was a small mammal, one that couldn't be bigger than ten inches, and this mammal was squirming a lot, as he tried to break free from the vixen's grasp.
Bogo looked closely, letting the glow from the dagger offer illumination to the small creature that Ms. Mieczyslaw was holding on her paw.
"A squirrel?" Bogo said, looking at the small rodent. It certainly looked like a squirrel, although Bogo himself had never seen a squirrely with such large and pointy ears. Or who hissed the way that the squirrel hissed in his direction.
"Saw him running right next by the dog's feet and dove to grab him." Emilia said, seeming rather proud of herself. "How much you wanna bet that he was the one who was screaming like that?"
"Sounds possible." Miezczyslaw said, looking at the small squirrel. "He certainly has good fighting skills. I noticed it as I fought both him and the possum."
"You bastards!" The squirrel screeched once more, curling his lips and letting them have a good look of what they have inside his mouth as he hissed again.
"Well, won't you look at that?" Marceli said, the squirrel hissed at him once more, and he actually seemed to be opening his mouth and take a deep breath. As if he was getting ready to scream.
However, he didn't had time to, for Marceli, fast as a lightning, placed the tip of his finger over his mouth, cutting him before he had the chance of screaming.
"Don't." The fox said, looking at him. "If you start being aggressive to us, then we will have no choice but to be aggressive to you in return."
As he said that, Emilia gave a very light squeeze, making the small mammal in her paw wheeze.
This seemed to be enough warning, for when Marceli removed his finger, the squirrel didn't tried to scream again, but he kept glaring daggers at the fox.
"So, he was the one who did that screech?" Bogo asked, and Marceli nodded.
"Yes, certainly achieved by combining his voice with magecraft." The fox said, "He stopped screaming when Emilia caused Coyle to fall over him with her attack."
"In other words, I saved both of your butts." The vixen said, looking at the two males. "I am ready to receive a 'thank you' anytime now."
Bogo rolled his eyes.
Were all foxes like this? Well, certainly not Marceli, he was far more serious than both Wilde and his own niece. That much Bogo admitted.
Now, turning his attention to the small squirrel, Bogo took a closer look, and the rodent looked back at him.
"What'cha lookin' at, mundane scum?" The squirrel hissed at him. Bogo didn't expressed any reaction, he only continued to look at the squirrel and then said, in a calm manner:
"He is quite charming, ain't he?" Bogo said to the foxes, and Emilia said:
"Yeah, let him try being charming to me." She said, looking at the small rodent as if she was making a challenge. "Okay, since we got you, you might start answering our questions right now, and we have a lot of them. Okay, for beginners..."
"We are not questioning him here." Bogo said, getting up. "We are taking him back to the station and questioning him there, under controlled circumstances."
"Oh, come on, we don't need to." Emilia said, looking at the buffalo. "We just have to start asking questions right now, and if he tries to play smart, I just give him a squeeze." She said, and gave a squeeze as if to demonstrate, causing the squirrel to squeak in her paw.
Bogo looked at her, and he was already noting down all of the irregularities in protocol that the vixen was committing, including being aggressive to the suspect without need. If she were one of his officers, Bogo would already be lecturing her about excessive force and police brutality.
"Okay then..." Bogo said, "What if one of his invisible friends come back and attack us while we are distracted?" Bogo pointed behind himself as he said that. If he believed that this could happen, he would not have his back turned to the door through which the other ones escaped, but he thought that it was a good way of making his point, and the expression on the vixen's face told him that he had successfully made his point.
"Yeah, that's what I thought." He said, looking at her. "We are taking him back to the station, and following all the correct procedure. After all, the last thing we need now is another fiasco like the one with Blackwall, right?"
Once more, Bogo knew that he had made a point. Soon, they were all walking back to the car, once in there, Bogo reached out for a pair of handcuffs that fit the squirrel. Luckily, he was the kind of prepared mammal and, ever since his time as a rookie, he went around on his beats with a pair of cuffs and muzzles of all sizes, in case he needed.
"... and if you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you, if you so desire. Do you understand your rights?" Bogo asked the squirrel, who was sitting on the passenger's seat between the enforcers, his tiny paws cuffed behind his back. He just sat in there, looking grumpy and not threatening or insulting anyone, as his expression told Bogo that he probably wanted.
Attaining himself to the right to remain silent? Or did he just thought that there was nothing worth saying at the moment? Either way, Bogo didn't really cared, as long as he could offer them some much needed information.
Soon, the cruiser was driving out of that empty street and back at the station, with their newest suspect on being take for questioning.
In a certain apartment in the city
"So, you already failed on getting the package back, and you want another chance to try?" Tasman asked, and the panther looked at him. "Why, exactly? Just so you can fail again?"
The panther had an answer for that on the tip of his tongue, but he bit it back, instead only looking back at the other mammal, before he spoke:
"Well, someone has to get it back, right?" He said, "It is something very important, isn't it?"
"That's why I am taking charge of this." Tasman said, looking at the panther. "What, do you think I'll let you in charge of this after you failed twice in spectacular fashion? Oh no, no, no. I am taking the package myself and, unlike you, I have a plan worked that will involve minimum risk and bring no attention to us whatsoever. My plan even includes a convenient escaping goat to take the fall in our name."
Tasman had a smirk on his muzzle as he explained that, and the panther continued to look at him.
Tasman's plan were famous for working without a flaw, and he had no reason to believe that this one wouldn't as well.
This was bad.
His only chance of attuning and preventing Tasman form making good of his threats of permanently reducing his privileges within the MTC was by recovering the package. He would not be able to do that if Tasman got it back first.
"I am working on recovering the package already." The panther said, "As a matter of fact, I already put the plan into motion."
"Well, you can stop it on its tracks right now." Tasman said, "I don't know what this plan of yours' is, but I assure you that mine will work far better."
"The package is my responsibility!" The panther said, causing Tasman to look at him with a raised eyebrow.
The panther recomposed himself from the outburst, and continued, in a more controlled manner:
"I want to recover it. I HAVE to recover it." He said, looking at Tasman. "I am sure that I can get it back, if I have the chance."
They looked at each other. Then, the panther did something that he would never do in normal conditions.
He pleaded.
"Just, please, give me some time." He said, his paws together in a pleading manner, and Tasman looked at him, nearly as if he was pondering to accept or not.
He would probably make the same face when deciding if he was going to crush a bug or let it go.
"I must be out of my mind." Tasman sighed, and looked back at the panther.
"Three days, starting tomorrow." He said, and the panther looked back at him.
"If you don't have it back by then, I assume the case." Tasman said, "And you can be sure that the MTC will know how you failed us three times."
That was all that Tasman said, before turning around and leaving. The panther remained where he was, as he heard Tasman leave through the door, leaving him alone in the apartment.
Cornelius... this plan of yours' better work!