Chapter 15: You win some, you lose some…

Zootopia…Zootopian Embassy…10 years ago…

Kerberos and Kaiden had decided to grab the weapons from the fallen guards in the sub-basement, The elevator was stopped only a few floors from the roof and was a running firefight the whole way. Once the pair reached the floor just below the roof, the guards seemed to get an order to back away, which caught the pair's suspicion. As the duo made their way to the entrance to the roof access stairwell.

"Oh, we are definitely being herded this way. Keep your guard up." suggested Kerberos.

"Figures. Just my luck this wouldn't be easy." The fox quipped.

"Heh, you want easy, join the ZPD." The bear retorted.

The two shared a moment of levity before starting to head up. The quiet was eerie as they could hear the patter of their pawsteps up the stairs. Kerberos got on his comm back to operations.

"Operator, what's the ETA on the evac chopper?"

"Chopper on station, should be with you inside of four minutes. Southeast corner of the roof."

"Roger." He replied.

"So how do you want to play this?" asked Kaiden.

"I think we just need to go for broke, and focus on getting on the chopper, nothing fancy, provide cover fire, get on and get the hell out of here. They already know we're here and trying to leave, so stealth isn't a concern anymore."

"Good, I'd prefer a standup fight." The fox smirked.

"Well get used to it kid, the fact we are off stealth is still a failure in my book. Ideally, we should have been in and out and no one the wiser until it was too late."

"We achieved the mission, Humphrey." Kaiden replied.

"Not yet we haven't, we have the objective, keeping him and getting him out of here is still ahead of us. Don't slack now." Kerberos chided.

The duo went to the roof door and stood next to it, getting ready for what they concluded was almost certainly a trap.

"So, what do you think is waiting up here for us?" the fox gestured toward the door.

"If it was me, I'd have as many squads on the roof as possible to take us down."

"Alright, well let's get it done." The fox reached for the doorknob.

"Wait one." The bear held up his paw. "ETA?" he spoke into his comms.

"1 minute 30 seconds." The Operator called back.

"Alright let's go, remember, focus on getting on the chopper not a kill count."

Kaiden took several sharp breathes and swung open the door, his borrowed rifle at the ready and the duo rushed out the door to meet whatever resistance they expected.

They were back outside on the roof, the sun beaming down on them. The roof, much to their confusion, was empty. Kaiden spun around aiming at various spots, toward the nearby air handler, some roof mounted vent junctions, any spot where someone could conceal themselves for an ambush. After a moment they relaxed their tension and guard.

"What in the hell?" Kaiden asked. "This makes no sense, where the hell are the guards?"

"This doesn't feel right, something's off." The bear commented.

The pair paced several steps and went to the south-east corner. Kerberos taking note of his senses, his instinct stood still as if sensing something. Kaiden looked up and into the distance. He was able to spot the Bureau 13 helicopter coming toward them.

Kerberos sensed a presence, his eyes wanting to look over his shoulder, his nose twitching smelling the air, a scent he couldn't place. Without looking and with all his force, threw a punch into what seemed like dead air. However, his paws contacted something. That something huffed a loud grunt from the impact and slammed into the nearby roof vent. The pair spun around, blinking for a moment as they saw a distortion of the light, a figure appearing.

"It's going to take more than a new spin on an old trick to sneak up on me Nala." Kerberos admonished. "New tech but predictable, sloppy."

The figure resolved in Kaiden's vision, it was Nala, wearing a black and jagged uniform, the panels were made of a carbon plating, they were smooth, but glinted slightly in the sun light. She stood up and looked back at them, her eyes glowing a neon purple, and the conduits in her uniform glowed the same color ran its length like webbing from a spider.

"So it's true. You're alive Kaiden." Her voice almost sounding relieved at the sight.

"It's good to see you too, Nala." Kaiden tried to phrase it as a quip but an air of genuine appreciation was still in his voice.

"For what it's worth, Jarod trying to kill you was a mistake. But that is the way things are now. I see you are enhanced as well." She said pointing at his limbs.

"Why are you here?" Kaiden asked.

"Clean up" she replied.

The fox raised an eyebrow puzzled. His moment of confusion was interrupted by a helicopter rushing past them and settling on the opposite corner from them. At first Kaiden and Kerberos thought it was the Bureau 13 chopper on the wrong end of the roof, but at a second glance, it was a different model of chopper. It had touched down on the roof and a lynx stepped out and stood nearby the door. Nearby, a door on that end of the roof, burst open and a large bison carrying a badger emerged and ran toward the chopper. It was Barret, he too was heavily armored and the badger he was carrying was Tex Harding.

Kaiden realized what was happening, they too were exfiltrating, yet none of them made an attempt to recover Hamilton. Kaiden knew Jarod hated failure, so the fact they weren't even attempting made the fur on his neck stand on end.

"So what's going on Nala?"

"More than you know Kaiden. More than you know."

Jarod chirped over her comm in the clear, not even attempting to conceal his signal.

"Nala, let's go. They will get taken care of."

"Sorry Ellison. For what it's worth, I missed you." The lioness mustered a hint of a smile.

"Same" Kaiden replied sincerely.

Nala stepped back slowly before turning and bolted toward her chopper. The Bureau 13 helicopter finally arrived building and settled on the roof. Kerberos, handed his backpack with a now unconscious Hamilton to the agent in the back. He stepped onto the skid and turned back to Kaiden.

"Come on kid, let's go!" he bellowed.

The fox stood there as he saw the helicopter with his former teammates on it, and turned to board his. There was a loud explosion on the lower floors of the building, then another and another. The force of which almost knocked him off his feet. The rapid-fire pop, pop, pop sounded like it was running up the building. Kerberos eyes went wide as he concluded what was happening

"Throttle up!" He screamed, as he turned to the chopper pilot.

The chopper pilot immediately throttled up as the roof started shifting, Kaiden ran towards the chopper, he could feel the roof giving away, its consistency crumbling beneath his paws. He bounded as fast as he could. The chopper lifted off just as the roof started to fall with Kaiden with it. With one last burst of strength, he jumped as hard as his augmented legs could and reached out with his paw.

Kerberos with one arm gripping the cabin handle on the side of the chopper and his other arm outstretched. Trying to focus on the fox and not the scene before him. Kaiden's paw clapped into the bears, with an audible sound, as the building below them disappeared into a cloud of dust and debris. They could hear the screaming of the mammals below coming from the dust cloud as an eerie cacophony.

The rubble of the building falling sounded like the roar of a rushing waterfall. The dust cloud billowed up towards them and a burst of heat caused the chopper to lurch and sway. Kaiden's grip slipped, and he fell from the chopper.

"Kaiden!" screamed Kerberos, as he lurched back into the cabin of the chopper.

The fox fell into the dust falling towards the ground, he knew the ground was below and waited to smack it at the full force of freefall.

Kaiden had forgotten he was still wearing the freefall device that they used earlier, and after several moments it powered up and begin slowing his fall, his presence in the dust cloud caused the normally invisible bubble of energy that it used to spark and sizzle the dust particulates. Streams of electrical discharge like lightning shot off the bubble. But Kaiden's downward velocity was slowing down.

Kaiden fell onto some of the larger debris, the force of which caused him to grunt in pain as he tumbled down the angular section of it. Nearing the bottom which acted like a ski jump ramp, he flew off and was thrown clear of the building, landing hard against the grass nearby. The fox could only make out the grass around his immediate area. The air was thick with a cloud of choking dust which gave the air a dark brown hue and visibility of only inches around him.

The fox fell into unconsciousness shortly after.

Later…

Kaiden awoke sometime later. He coughed and spat out the dust building up in his mouth, it was hard to breath as the air was filled with particulate building material. The screams from before had dulled into groaning and crying for help and in pain.

Kaiden heard static on his comm but no voice. It had heavy interference. The fox pushed himself up and grabbed his ribs, the fall exacerbated his previous fall in the duct which now made it hurt to breathe. Kaiden clicked the button in his HUD for a shot of pain killer, this time it dulled the pain but not the same as before. He concluded that he was injured more severely this time.

The fox forced himself to his feet and tried walking in the direction of what he believed would lead him out of the dust cloud. He noticed the sound of sirens in the distance, which meant first responders, police, fire department and paramedics would soon arrive.

He concluded it would be better for all involved if he wasn't there. Questions would be asked and answers he wouldn't be able to provide without breaking classification. The immediacy of his need to leave now of paramount importance.

As he walked, slowly but surely, he tried to see in front of him. He then tried one of his vision modes, cycling through them. He hit upon one that gave him a better view. He was shocked when it turned on and his vision was filled with digital outlines of the fallen building materials. The building hadn't fallen into its footprint, entire pieces of the building had come down into the courtyard below. He saw bodies, some moving, some twitching but many were still, reading as deceased per the labeling of his HUD. He saw so many mammals, adults, children, males, females, predators, prey.

The scope of what just happened finally hitting him, they detonated the building. "The bastards blew up the building to cover up what we found." He thought.

Kaiden's thoughts drifted from the mammals before him, to the guards he knocked out and stashed in the bathroom on the lowest level. They were very likely dead now and never even had a chance to escape.

Their last experience in this reality was getting into a fight and then being tranqed by him. The macabre horror of it setting in. He was so lost in thought he didn't notice the wolf he tripped over and fell to the ground face first.

"Ah shit" he exclaimed, as he hit the ground, then pushed himself on his knees, then looked up into the sky wondering if this decision to join this agency was a smart one.

He took a moment to collect himself then pushed off the ground to back to his feet. He was about to continue when he noticed the arm of the wolf, he tripped over was tan colored. He got closer and looked at the arm, then followed it toward the head of the wolf.

The mammal seemed familiar, and at first the fox was unsure where to place it, then it hit him.

"Kit?" the fox questioned, before the certainty fell in.

Oh my god! Kit!" the fox exclaimed coming to his side.

It was Kit Ballanger, the wise and no none sense wolf that Kaiden knew from his days in Irat and with the 204th. Kaiden was getting flashbacks from those days but forced himself to stay in the present.

"I'm….I'm going to get you out of here." The fox told the unconscious wolf.

Kaiden saw that a piece of building floor had crushed Kit's legs below the knee, and his left arm, pinning him.

Kaiden used his enhanced strength to lift the floor section. It was difficult, even with the augmented limbs. The fox grunted and strained. He gritted his teeth and muttered through his clenched teeth "Come on…" he pleaded through his pained grunt.

The floor section broke off from the main body of the floor, and he was able to lift just enough of the debris to free Kit. He quickly tore fabric from Kit's battle dress uniform he was wearing and used the strips as torniquets to keep him from bleeding out of the crushed limbs. Kaiden looked with his vision to see who was nearby, it was another wolf, a female, and three smaller kits, two boys and one girl. Kaiden pried the debris free and realized who they were.

"Oh god no." Kaiden lamented and winced at the realization.

Kit had shown off pictures of his wife Zoe and their three kits, Riley, Tyler and Sarah back in the 204th, when they were resting or at camp back in Irat. Kaiden knew their faces well, the happy smiles from the picture.

Those expressions juxtaposed to the vision he saw before him now. Zoe had thrown herself onto her children to try and shield them, but the floor section had to have been several thousands of pounds that rained down on them. Kaiden's HUD told him all he needed to know. All four of them were listed as deceased, with no detectable life functions.

"No…oh my god, no. No. NO!" he screamed before covering his mouth. He choked on his grief and his eyes filled his tears.

Kaiden felt nauseous, he couldn't believe this was happening. He knew these mammals. Kit had spoken of them enough, told him stories of home and hearth, of family. All the holidays and summer vacations they took. It reminded the fox of Lily and the life they planned.

He looked at Kit and wondered what he should do, for a moment he considered just leaving the wolf to his fate, that it would be better to just let the natural course of events take their toll. But Kit's voice echoed in his mind.

"We don't leave anyone behind!" the old memory of the wolf's voice harkening back from days gone by.

He took a deep staggered grief filled breath and decided. "Kit, if this is the wrong decision, please forgive me."

The fox walked over to his friend, and looked at him. Pausing for a moment then grabbed and slung him over his shoulder. Proceeding to walk in the direction that he figured was the edge of the dust cloud.

After what seemed like a small eternity, he finally reached the edge. The sirens of the various emergency vehicle had arrived and first responders were starting their rescue and pull mammals out of the now dissipating dust cloud.

The wind had picked up and the dust started to clear. A paramedic bumped into him, appearing from the dust cloud like a specter. The tiger paramedic rushed to Kaiden when he was able to make out what was going on.

"Sir, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Kaiden replied with a gravelly voice, made that way by a combination of grief and dust. "It's my friend, he's going to die, he needs help now."

"Alright, come on, give him to me." The tiger responded and took the wolf into his arms. "Come with me, we need to get your checked out as well." The pair turned and headed back toward his van with haste.

"I said I'm fine, just get him to the hospital."

"We will, just come with me please."

Eventually the two made it out of the dust cloud and to a nearby ambulance. There were several lined up one after another, along with fire engines and a few police cars.

The tiger paramedic spoke with his partner as they gave Kit a look over and triaged him. Once they determined he was salvageable, their pace quickened and loaded him onto a gurney in the ambulance. The tiger tried to get Kaiden to be checked out by another set of paramedics nearby. But after reassuring the tiger that Kit's situation was paramount, the tiger went with his partner to take the wolf to the emergency room.

As the ambulance sped away, Kaiden offered a silent prayer for his friend. Kaiden kept walking, the sound of the commotion dulling to the sound of his own breathing and heartbeat. The shock of the situation was starting to fade, and the reality of it sinking in.

He turned to look back at where the building was, the dust cloud had spread, billowing through the nearby city streets and buildings covering them with a thin layer of grey-white dust. The building had been devastated, a gaping hole in the Zootopian skyline.

Kaiden pawed his fur, the dust had caked onto it. The fur around his eyes soaked in tears from the dust making his eyes water, the moisture made the lime in the concrete dust reactivate causing a slight tingle of burning.

He tapped a paw to his ear and called out for the operator, before realizing the comm was in his skull not his ear.

"Operations? Operator? Anybody, is anybody on the other side of this thing?"

Several moments passed before an answer finally came.

"Yes Agent, we're here, there is a bit of pandemonium here at the ops center, but we didn't forget you. We are trying to have Kerberos get land transport and come pick you up. Air transport is…"

Kaiden looked at the air above the former embassy. "Yeah, I get it, everything is grounded."

"What's your status, any injuries?"

Kaiden looked at his HUD and studied the fox shaped representation of him and studied the indicators. "Nothing critical. I'm just sore from the falls, but I'm still walking. Just come pick me up."

"Roger, we will be there when we can." Replied the operator.

Kaiden heaved a sigh of relief for the moment, at least all he had to do was wait somewhere. He didn't have to fight his way out of anything. The augmentations hurt, especially at the connection points between them and the flesh they were attached to. He didn't expect that, though from the reading and the councilors he knew that "the integration between the augments and organic tissue would take time to fully integrate. And that there might be unexpected conditions or side effects that might develop." But he didn't think it would be anything like this.

However, realizing that they did basically bolt metal limbs to his torso, to expect that to go without a hitch is just the height of folly. He tried rubbing his shoulder just above the attachment point to relax the organic muscle there, then spun his head left quickly to cause the vertebrae in his neck to pop, providing a moment of relief.

Kaiden realized he hadn't been paying attention to where he had been walking the last few minutes. Noticing that he was several dozens of yards from where he was. He had paced along the road that led up to the embassy, that curved to match the topography of the hill it was on. All the emergency vehicles and first responders parked along the length of it on the right side, while keeping the left side open for vehicles travelling down the hill.

Out of the various red and white vehicles, Kaiden found one that was blue and black. The letters "ZPD" on the side and the ZPD's shield logo. And below that "Mobile Command Center." He stopped, leaning on the front cab of the vehicle and slid down until he was sitting on the bumper concluding this was as a good a place as any to wait for pick up. Mainly though he was exhausted and needed to sit. He leaned his face and muzzle against the metal of the cab's frame. It was warm, almost soothing. He closed his eyes and took several breaths.

The sound of a vehicle driving up the path grew into his perception. Kaiden opened his eyes just enough to see, it was a shiny sedan, higher end model with chrome trim parking up next to the back end of the MCC. The dust was already starting to stick to the frame causing the shine to drain away by the second.

A black suited panther stepped out of the back of the car, not waiting for the driver to open the door for him, he held the door as a blue suited Lion followed behind. They both paced up to the MCC's door, the panther rapping on it with insistence.

The door opened and stepped out a rather large cape buffalo, wearing a ZPD police uniform, captain's bars on his collar. He snorted disapprovingly at the sight of the mammals before him.

"Oh like hell I need this today. Paxton… Aldermammal Lionheart." The buffalo uttered in a clear air of irritation before addressing the two.

Paxton curled his face about to unload at the cape buffalo before the lion held up a paw, trying to start the conversation on the right tone.

"Look Bogo, we didn't come here to start a fight." The deep voiced lion held up his paw. "We just want to know what is going on?"

The cape buffalo relaxed and heaved a frustrated sigh. "The building has been completely destroyed, I have first responders pulling mammals out of the wreckage on the front lawn, but so far…"

The buffalo smacked his lips trying to find the words to compete the thought. "Let's just say the casualty count is high. About 60-70% so far."

"Good God" the panther muttered.

Lionheart said nothing but winced at the number and the implication.

"So, you have your status update. You can go." the buffalo said dismissively.

"Things cannot continue this way, Captain." The lion started.

"Oh no, no no. This is neither the place nor the time to have this conversation again." Bogo nodded referring to some previous event.

"And when will it be Captain? Before or after this city is a smoldering ruin?" the lion narrowed his eyes.

"The fact that you came here to talk to me about poli…" the buffalo began to chuckle incredulously.

"…This isn't about politics!" exclaimed the lion. "Look at this!" he gestured toward the now empty lot that held the embassy.

"Do you realize how important this summit was? Do you?!"

The buffalo became aware that their voices might be carrying and glanced over his shoulder toward the officers inside. He stepped down one of the steps and allowed the door to shut behind him, then stepped again to the ground. The MCC trailer swaying slightly as his weight shifted off to the ground.

"This event would have marked a huge jump in progress toward actual peace with the reptiles. They could have even started living here eventually. Do you have any idea the implications of this?!" Lionheart asked with an impassioned tone.

The buffalo at first was having trouble finding the words "I foresee a huge setback in peace efforts."

"Yeah, no shit. You have a gift for understatement, Bogo." Lionheart replied.

"Combine that with the huge loss of life, the mammals of this city are going to demand accountability."

"Seriously? That's what you're concerned about? Who is going to get the blame?" The cape buffalo's expression matched the disbelief in his words.

"What I'm saying is change is going to be coming fast Bogo. And you will need to figure out which side you're going to be on."

"Sides?! Sides. What sides, Aldermammal?"

"Yes, Bogo. Sides, the side that wants to see decent change in this city and the one's that wants the status quo. A status quo that resulted in this." He gestured toward the building.

"Predators and Prey in this city are interacting like never before, some good, some bad. We have or rather had the chance to include the reptiles into this. Change is happening whether we want to or not"

"So?"

"So…either mammals can adapt or….be left behind."

"Is that some kind of threat Leodore?" The buffalo glared at the lion.

"Just a statement of fact, Bogo. That's evolution." The lion shook his head dismissively.

The lion decided to change the tempo of the conversation by changing the subject.

"So let me ask you this? Did the additional officers you requested for today make any difference?"

The buffalo huffed in frustration, either this lion wasn't as on top of things as he thought, or he was trying to get a rise out of him.

"The chief didn't approve additional forces assigned to the embassy."

"Ah, hmm, gee. That doesn't seem very smart." the lion sarcastically feigning naivety and tapped his lip with the forefinger of his paw.

"Let me guess, the chief of police determined that 'it wasn't an efficient use of personnel'… again?"

Bogo opened his mouth to speak then stopped himself.

"That's what I thought" Lionheart replied to Bogo's non-statement. "That's because the chief is perfectly comfortable in things staying the way they are."

"I've heard all this before Leodore. I know your ambitions, even if they are for actual good. The problem is, do you seriously expect this city to elect a predator mayor? A lion no less?" The buffalo huffed in disbelief

"Anything is possible, Bogo." The lion tried to reassure him.

"Be reasonable Leodore, the sheep vote alone would prevent…"

"...Let me handle that, I'll figure out something. But if I was to pull it off. You, me, Paxton here. We could really change things, push the mission statement of this city and really achieve something."

"Right right, Paxton's mammal inclusive something…what did you call it?" Bogo jutted his chin towards the panther.

"Mammal Inclusion Initiative. It's a plan to open various areas that have traditionally gone toward specific mammals due to traditional views of animal capabilities and characteristics."

"Well, that may all be good for whatever you're thinking. But if I go along with you on this, and certain responsibilities fall my way, I expect to be given a certain level of autonomy."

"Such as?"

"Such as, I want to be able to build a police force to prevent things like that from ever happening again." Bogo answered pointing at the cloud where the embassy once stood.

"I want to show strength, capability, and excellence. If I do this, I'm not signing on to make this force into some show piece of mediocrity. Last thing I need is some weak and small mammal from Podunk or the Burrows forced on me and compromise my ability to protect the city."

Lionheart looked to the empty lot, sighed and back toward the cape buffalo "After this, I don't think allowing that stance will be a hard sell… Agreed."

"What are you going to do? About this, I mean". Bogo asked curious as to the Lion's intentions on the day's events.

"Right now is about saving the living. And in the coming days count the dead. But understand that while we try to find out what in the hell happened. We need to be careful not to let rumor or supposition get out there. That would cause even more chaos, violence, riots, civil disorder, who knows. So, we might need to keep some of this close to the vest. At least…for now."

"Keep secrets from the public?" Bogo asked a look of shock crossing his face.

"No no, just keep the information more of a drip feed, that way we can properly put it into context as we know more."

"Or shape the narrative…" the buffalo finished the thought.

"That's not fair Bogo. My motivations is to not cause panic between mammals or worse cause a rift of distrust."

"But it is a fair point, such a position with the information would allow you to do just that."

"I'd be a fool to not acknowledge it could be used as that. But my paw to God, Bogo. I'm not that kind of mammal. My goal is to protect the mammals of this city, even from their own fears and anxieties. Because if that's allowed to set in. Then this city, it's mission, all of it, is over." The lion reassured.

"Alright. It just needed to be said… However, I do hope it doesn't blow up in your face some day."

"If it does Bogo, then it will be on me. Good or bad."

Bogo sat silently for a moment and mulled over the conversation and visibly pondered the words before tilting his head in concession and uttered a single 'tsk' to what seemed to be the plan going forward.

"Well, good luck Aldermammal, I have to get by to this crisis." The cape buffalo jutted his hoof back toward the MCC.

Lionheart and Paxton moved back to the sedan and got in, it's engine revved up and turned around on the narrow path and went back down the hill. The Cape Buffalo shaking his head and going back inside the MCC, the sound of the door snapping shut.

Nearby, Kaiden had managed to overhear the entire conversation, his augmented hearing had filtered out the extraneous noise in the area to listen in. Though he didn't understand the context of their words, nor was he familiar with who they even were. He knew of Bogo only from a general briefing of the law enforcement hierarchy. A briefing that he only half listened to.

Kaiden was still sitting on the MCC's front fender when his comms chirped. He heaved a sigh of relief.

"Please tell me you're coming to get me?" muttered Kaiden weakly.

"This is Kerberos, I'm at the bottom of the hill in a black van, all you have to do is get down here and we'll get back to base."

"Hamilton?"

"He's being worked on right now, we'll probably find out more when we get back to base."

Kaiden turned his head and saw the HUD icon showing Kerberos' location at the bottom of the hill. The fox forced himself onto his feet and off the fender, he paced slowly toward the edge of the embankment and then down the hill.

Getting to the van was a relief as he opened the passenger side door and climbed in. The soft thud as the door shut.

"You ok kid?" asked the bear.

"Let's just go home." The fox replied.

"No problem kid. But for what it's worth. You did a good job."

"I fucked up." The fox replied.

"No, you didn't. These things happen. These mammals are gonna throw at us the unexpected, the impossible… Let's face it, the absolutely bat shit insane."

"Well I don't feel like I did a good job."

"Yeah well, welcome to being on the right side. It's a shitty thankless job."

"You're not doing a good job of selling it, Humphrey."

"It is what it is."

The bear turned his attention forward, put the van into gear and drove back in the direction of Bureau 13 HQ.