Chapter 20:
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"This is getting INTOLERABLE!"
Woundwort just gave his small traveling companion a tired one-eyed look and brought his finger up to his mouth. He mimed a hush, not even sounding it out.
The rat meanwhile just grumbled, mashing together the cheap junk food that had been purchased.
"And you thought about hiking your way up north on foot," the hare said, smiling as he heard a rattle and felt them begin to move on, slowly but surely. The clicking of steel wheels of rail joints somewhere beneath him, the hare moving over to adjust the small filter built into the wall, staring out at the rail yard beginning to shift past them.
"In such a case I would have not had options," the Rattigan hissed, glancing over. "Options that you had. Options that you ignored. Options…"
"And in a day or less, we will be back at your base, and everything you wish for will be there," the hare said. Walking over to a small hatch in the side of their little parasitic pod, he opened it up, looking out. Up ahead was the steel paneling of the container itself, followed by countless more, double stacked and snaking around the corner. Feeling the air in his fur, taking in a large breath, the battle scarred lapin looked back. "Embrace it."
"-Shove you out and go the rest of the way alone if you weren't significantly smaller," Rattigan loudly muttered, staring an angry dagger at the mammal in front of him before turning his eyes down to the scum food beneath him. He…
A short ringing cut him off, the rat pulling out his phone. Clicking on, he smiled as, through the naturally reduced size and fidelity screen, he saw his beloved. "Dearest."
"How is the journey, my love?"
"Oh, it is a journey, certainly," he grumbled. "Have my finest madeira and some delicacies ready for when I get back. -And I mean what I would consider delicacies, not you." He gave a shrug. "I will be in the mood for comfort cuisine, not exciting taboo gastronomics."
"As you wish," she said, chuckling.
"And for what do I owe the pleasure of this communique to?"
"I thought you'd want to check the news," she said, her grin growing. "To gain a rubes eye view of my plan as it plays out. At your own leisure."
"Oh," he smiled, shuffling around. "I am looking forward to this. Any clues?"
She gave him a shush. "No spoilers."
"Give them your worst," he said, voice dripping with mirth and rising into a chuckle.
"Oh, I shall" she said, smiling as she let a shake ripple down from her head to her tail.
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"So, two, three dozen of these control systems have gone missing," Bogo said, watching Oates as he began pinning photographs up against the wall.
"Indeed so," the horse said.
"-And this was before or after the attack on the Fox family house?"
"Before," Oates said, looking over. "A year he said. Though these systems weren't used on it, those were supposedly much older ones."
"But from the same company," Basil said.
"In a manner of speaking, yes."
"Enunciate," Bogo ordered.
"Change in owner," the horse carried on. "Change in business strategy and stuff years before. While Rattigan was out of the city. Though some old workers remain."
"Including Hanz Dunlip," Judy said, gesturing to the older figure on the board. "There…" She paused as the lights went out, a brief flicker coming on as the emergencies lit up, before things switched back to normal. The errant beeping of electronics rebooting sounded out around the building, only for the mammals to carry on regardless. "There's something about him," she mused. "I don't know why, but he's giving me deja-vu." She glanced over at Nick.
"I mean, yes," he nodded. "Me too, but I don't know exactly where from. Could have been a mammal we saw, or… -No, it's his name," he said. He glanced at Judy. "It struck when his name was said, wasn't it?"
The bunny nodded. "But where…" She glanced over at the mice. "Do you remember anything, from the old days, or…"
"Nothing direct, no," Basil said, Dave coming up with him.
"There were plenty of businesses we knew were connected with Rattigan's crime empire, but pretty much all of them were in Little Rodentia. I don't recall anything about rhino's."
"But you thought this company was connected to it, in some way," Sly said. Bogo turned his face to look at him, a simmering disapproval behind his eyes.
"We hypothesised," Basil said. "And it may well have been, only to switch and change after his absence. Were it not for a loyal worker, someone with friends, someone with debts, Rattigan would have no sway over it at all."
"We could put in the warrants and get an audit over it," Bogo began. "The sooner the better."
"Given how long it takes," Sly said, following on. "Do you want it by the end of the day?"
Bogo's disapproval grew. His underlings looked up and waited on him before, with a huff of his nose, he nodded. "If we find anything, we then go through the proper channels to confirm."
"And you don't waste resources on a dead end," Carmelita agreed, looking at the smallest pair in the room. "Do you even have evidence that Rattigan had large mammal businesses under his sway?"
"He'd had to have," Dave said. "There were plenty of things he couldn't do that he could with the support of a larger mammal. Big learnt the same lesson. It's just he embraced it, while Rattigan sampled just enough. -Up until his return and stealing everything Big built."
Bogo grunted. "Should have stuck selling cannoli the…"
There was a slam on the table, all eyes turning to Judy. "That's it!"
…
"Why's everyone look…" Nick began before sighing. "-You mean it was all about cannoli this whole time, I…" He froze, eyes going wide. "Holy fluff it is."
The room was quiet, Carmelita eventually verbalising everyone's thoughts. "¿Qué?"
Judy turned to her, pausing to think for the moment. "During the nighthowler cases, or rather before, a number of…" She froze as she glanced to Carmelita, to Sly and then back again, following up with a shrug. "I accidentally saved Mr Big's daughter's life and during the nighthowler crisis ended up at her wedding as an honorary member of the family. -Point is, Mr Big gave a very long, reminiscent…"
"-Sanitised," Nick added in.
"-Speech," the bunny carried on. "About how his family grew from humble origins, a small cannoli stand, and stood up for the rodents, showing that size didn't matter, that they could rise up, be powerful, eventually founding Little Rodentia and becoming the mammal he is… -Or rather was, that day."
"Leaving out all the stuff like insider trading, spying, duplicitous work, etcetera that really did it," Nick said. "Though certainly leaving in the clincher at the end."
"Mainly," Judy began, turning back to the screen. "Bringing a local mob enforcer to the ground and becoming the heroes of the rodents." She walked over and threw her paws at the mammal. "Guess what species."
"Rhino," Basil and Dave said in unison, the former going off on a ramble. "Of course, of course, quite obvious." He looked up. "There were plenty of small petty street gangs and such in those times, still are now, and the Fundererr family were one of them."
"You said," Bogo began, freezing as his phone chirped. He raised it up, a look of concern on his face, before waving at the others to continue as he left the room.
"-Anyway," Basil said, "our mammal is a Dunlip and not a Fundererr, but both are rhino families. I'm pretty certain that our Dunlip at the conversion yard was the son of a Fundererr and a Dunlip, he may well have been a little calf around the time that his mother's family lost their prestige."
"Though not without a fight," Dave said. "There was plenty of harassment around the founding of Little Rodentia. Larger mammals loitering around the entrances or worksites, 'earthquaking' being a popular pastime until Big used his growing influence to get laws against it in place."
"And Big did mention things about some mammals being against him," Nick said, eyes closed and recounting. "Dunlip's among them. -I certainly remember him mentioning Fundererr's, given how he toppled one."
"Bet's on a secret tripwire," Sly said, Nick flashing him a smirk.
"Nope. Itty-bitty-teeny-weeny rolling pin."
The raccoon's eyes widened, he and Nick speaking in unison. "For Cannoli!"
They high fived, flashing each other a finger pistol.
"And now," Carmelita sighed. "There's two of them."
"The point is, he was seen to topple a giant mammal like that," Judy carried on. "A group that would make small mammal lives miserable just for the fun of it. -And Nick's right, even I wasn't so totally naive back then to believe that that was the whole story. -They'd been growing spying networks and doing insider trading for ages, they had subtle power. But that one act crystalised everything. Rodents respected them before, they believed in him after. Meanwhile, realising that 'hey, these rodents were really clever', many of the small to medium mammals under the Funderers switched sides, especially seeing as Big already had friends with a polar bear…" She paused, glancing at Nick. "Okay, he said he knew Kozlov as a cub but we know that can't be true. So…"
Nick looked back blankly. "It was Raymond's dad, fluff. He was just vague and you jumped to conclusions.
Sly nodded along, paws sweeping out in a rainbow gesture. "The power of imagination."
Ignoring Nick's approving response back to the raccoon, Judy carried on. "But the one set of mammals who wouldn't move were the rhino's. Admitting defeat, to a shrew! They had their pride, but nobody feared them anymore. It would have been a downward spiral for them."
"Enough to make a small boy grow up in poverty," Basil carried on. "Enough to make him resent those good for nothing shrews who took what his family had built for them and marched off to Tundratown or walled themselves inside his local park. -He couldn't even earthquake them anymore without being hauled off to Juvie. Ergo, when a new rival to that shrew arrives, when he needs some big scale allies on the outside, who better to turn to." The mouse walked back to the board. "To reward with a business. And, decades down the line, ask for a few dozen radio control adapter kits, under the table."
Nick nodded. "I can start looking through records, getting more lev…"
He was broken off as the door swung open, Bogo marching in. "Problem!" All eyes turned to him. "-That wasn't a regular power cut," he said. "Right now, we're on generator power. Reports have come in that a major downtown substation is ablaze."
The mammals listened on, Carmelita moving towards the window, looking out and seeing a small cloud of smoke rising.
"It's not the only one," he grunted. "Four have gone up, across the city. Meanwhile the local ZFD station have reported ten rapidly growing blazes at the edge of their territory. They're moving out there now."
"What's he up to," Basil growled, Nick moving forward and getting a laptop screen open. "Let's… Cuss, no wifi. Let me try my phone signal, that's…" He frowned. "Very weak."
Mammals began opening their phones, Judy having the strongest signal, albeit the internet was still so slow opening anything was a crawl.
Bogo opened his walkie talkie up. "If I can get in contact with them, I'll tell you. Otherwise, we have a local area map a few offices down and…" His radio crackled on, the buffalo pulling it up to his ear. "Ye… -Clawhauser. Right!" He placed it down. "Reports of small short fires right outside us. Thermite drones, they must have hit the power and internet cables."
"They can't block satellites," Carmelita said, marching on. "I have a laptop and phone with a link in my locker." She began marching forward.
"Also," Nick said, "TV. The news might have a better view of this than any of us."
"Move it, move it," Bogo ordered. The group began following along, the majority finding a room with a city map pinned on one side. "If I remember," he said, sweeping away any and all pins with a swing of his arm, then picking up a few. "We had a fire here, here, here…"
"Where are the ZFD response areas?" Judy asked.
"I don't know," the Chief replied, enunciating each word. "I'm not the Chief of the ZFD, am I?"
"Either way," Nick began, "I think if you were to completely fill it in, you'd have something like a circle on there." He began looking down as Bogo turned up and frowned.
"-Chief," Judy cut in. "They're drawing the fire services away from us and then cutting our communications. We…"
"I can see that," Bogo said, snapping around. "But this building is not some abandoned wreck, or a historic university building stuffed full of flammable art projects." He rapped his hoof on the board. "I can get the mammals here ready with extinguishers in case any of those drones try to…"
He was cut off as the shrill ring of the fire alarm began to sound. He pulled his radio up to his mouth. "Clawhauser! Tell every officer not to leave the building. Grab buckets, grab extinguishers, keep a watch out, do what you can to stop any fire spreading." He placed it down. "This building is rock solid and we will fight. We won't let him…" He froze as the lights flickered and went off, the glow of the emergencies coming on again. "Now he's going to have to buy me a new generator!"
The mammals began marching out, joining various crowds running this way and that. Before they did so, Oates gave a glance out at the courtyard. A spark of flame was rising up from a drone sitting on top of one of the many cooling towers for the buildings air conditioning. Plastic smoldered and caught alongside the wooden fencing around the compounds, all as small jets of flame spurted from whatever it was those things circulated.
He glanced up, noticing plenty more and similar silhouetted on the roof.
"Get some mammals up top," the horse shouted, following along. Just in time for Carmelita to bump into them.
"I have the laptop," she said.
"-Get it set up with Clawhauser," Bogo ordered. "Get back in contact with everyone, and give that pistol to someone who can use it." Carmelita nodded, handing the shock pistol over to Judy. "Roof."
"Roof," she agreed, turning.
"-Here's more," the vixen cut in. "I did check the news, something is going on in Haverholt. I think they got hit a little before us."
Bogo looked around and blinked. "What is there in Haverholt! Why would they seed a distraction there. They couldn't come to us."
"Unless, " Nick said levelly. "We're still the distraction."
"T-U-S-K teams and helicopters were on the way out there," Carmelita said, "that's all I saw before the power went."
The Chief knitted his brow. "What's…"
"I know what's out there," Nick said, plainly. "And if I'm right, these drones are just a distraction for us. And if what I fear is true, everything is just a distraction for…" He snapped to Carmelita. "Do you have that jetpack!"
"...No…"
Nick turned back to Sly. "The Fox family are in a small compound near the shore of the Nocturnal District lake."
"Wilde," Bogo began. "Why…"
"-Because he's the only one who might reach there in time!" He grabbed the shock pistol from Judy and threw it into Sly's paws. "Carmelita, get that laptop open, I'll show him where it is, and a nearby access hatch, I…" He stared at Sly. "You have…"
"I do," he said.
"Good," the fox said, as Judy's ears shot up.
"Oh god," she said, racing back into the office. Sly followed him, quickly followed by Oates with the mice on shoulder, Wilde and Carmelita. Gritting his teeth Bogo went after them, seeing them staring out into the courtyard and beyond. Past the AC farms, past the parking lots, past the jail exercise yard…
Bogo froze up as he saw what was beyond.
"Well," Nick said, voice hollow. "We know where some of those controllers went."
"And," Basil said, recovering from being pulled around on Oates' shoulder. "That he has more diggers from where those ones came from."
They looked on as a trio of old, heavy excavators reared their buckets and pulled, tearing down the wall to the jail exercise yard.
Bogo slammed his hoof into the ground. "MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!" Mammals bolted to life as the Chief grit his teeth. "And now I remember what was in Haverholt!"
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"IN A LINE! PAWS ON HEADS! PAWS ON HEADS!"
Timofey followed the order, as he'd done on every single previous fire drill he'd experienced in this place. Out in the yard, lined up with the various other inmates, paws on head as they lined up by the fence, away from the building.
At least the day was a nice day, he mused.
Especially given that plenty of them would be out here for quite a while.
Up ahead, past the roof line, he saw the black cloud of smoke rising up, fast.
Terrance, the otter guard, waddled forward past the front of the line, glancing at the inmates before looking back, eyes narrowing as he brought his walkie talkie up. "Okay, the head count is in. We're good," he said, waiting, listening on. "Right, it is the laundry going up."
He huffed, sticking it back down against his pocket and then looking on, waiting. He didn't look back, he didn't need to, none of his mammals had been in the laundry that day. Chances were it was a mistake or a fault with a tumble dryer. None of them knew.
Except the bear, except the groundhog standing, waiting, next to him. He wasn't sure how it happened, but he could guess. A drone, thermite, he'd answered a few questions about where large stacks or shelves of the uniforms, towels, bed linens were stored. There was always a big spare set of stacks in this awkward corner, sticking out into a courtyard. A small plastic rooflight overhead.
After that, timber roof joists, bitumen roof felt, the rest of the stores. It would catch.
The giant otter held his walkie talkie up again and spoke in. "When are they getting here! I swear that this will start burning down the rest of the place soon!"
A paw went up from a grey kangaroo not far down the line, Luka speaking up. "Hey, what if we help put it out?"
Terrance closed his eyes, snapping around but managing to transform his irritated scowl into somewhat of a smug smile. "I don't think you'll be getting time off for that."
"'Fair dinkum," he smiled. "Let it burn!"
A round of sniggers, cheers and laughter rolled up from the fellow inmates, the giant otter rolling his eyes. Timofey watched him, knowing his game. Let them have their innocent fun, don't stress things out and poke the bear when they were at their most vulnerable.
After all, he only had a few other guards in the area. Right there, right then were all the inmates to act, they could take them down, turn to the fence. Break out.
He paused, wondering if that was the plan all along. After all, he didn't know what the 'moment' would be, just that he'd know it when he saw it. -Were it the case that a call went up, that he would be there to lead the charge against the guards, to tear them down and lead his fellow inmates out?
-He'd try and throw the otter somewhere far away. The mammal had earned that respect after all, he…
He saw the otter bring up his walkie again, sighing in relief. "Good, they're here, they… -What!?" He pushed the talkie away from him and pulled it back. "What do you mean, what's going on!?"
Timofey narrowed his eyes, leaning forward. He couldn't hear anything from the other side, but up in the air, beyond the crackling of rising flames… -There was a commotion, certainly. Yells, anger, screams, whoops, cheers, the rushing of water.
Looking around he saw some of the bunnies, Luke Ruta especially, with their ears up, pivoting, listening in. The sicko little hare was almost bouncing with eagerness, probably happy for whatever next spark of chaos he could find, he could follow, he could have fun with before breaking out in a paddy when the consequences crashed down to him. He…
The bear froze as he felt some paws tighten on his overall legs. Looking down he saw Beavis there, the chipmunk holding on, breathing in and out, panting, scared.
"You okay?" the bear asked.
Swallowing down, trying to fix himself straight, the woodchuck nodded. "Y-yeah, sure. Sure."
"You make bad liar."
The rodent glanced up, eventually managing a quivering nod. "W-what about you."
"Not scared," he breathed out, looking forward and tightening his paws, feeling the prick of claws against his pad. "And good liar."
"-Everyone!" the giant otter called. "Up against the walls, paws on heads, faces against wall, move for… MOVE!"
He yelled it out just as the whole crowd began turning back, watching as a small, ancient looking, fire engine rolled out from around the side, its water cannon out on a large boom. It pivoted, blasting off and straight, over their heads and directly into the giant otter. In a second he was down, slammed against the hard floor and rolling until he hit the cell block wall. -A few yells came from the other guards, only to have the water cannon blasted against them instead.
Timofey hunkered down, grabbing the woodchuck against him. Was it going to deploy a ladder or… -A second vehicle pulled around, quickly followed by a group of guards, TASERs, tranqs and even pieces of furniture in their paws. The strange thing, by the look of it an excavator mounted on the cab unit of a big rig, paid them no mind as it lumbered to a stop, the large arm, a giant staple remover like attachment on the end, extending out and pushing itself under the chain link fence.
The water cannon pivoted to hit the following guards, a ram taking the full brunt as two others dived behind the digger unit for cover. The sheep tried to get up again, only to get another blast, a loud cheer rising up from the inmates, those around Timofey kicking their arms up, waving, whooping.
It increased as, with a jolt, one of the fence posts was uprooted, bucking up. Pulling back, it tore away at the chainlinks, ripping out a wipe gap to a mad excited chorus.
There was still an innermost fence in their way, and some of the guards outside were leaning around the edge of the digger, covering the gap. All as Timofey saw another reach up and try to bash into the control cab. It was pointless, even before the bison realized that the figure of the driver inside was just a mammalquin.
Turning away, he began reaching up to climb the excavator arm, truncheon in paw. Timofey looked on at the exposed hydraulic lines, a pit forming in his stomach. If he could take one out, or for that matter find the radio transmitter that…
The bison dove out of the way as the water canon turned, blasting a brief spurt against him. It then turned back to deal with those guards on the inside, an opening to take down the digger re-emerging once more, only for…
With a cough and a fit, the bison stumbled away from the machine, a strange smoke now starting to emerge. A pungent evil aroma was carried across the wind, the bear holding his nose and shying away from it as its tendrils started curling up the machine, the paint flaking off and discolouring as it went.
It had no effect on the mechanism however, the arm coming in and tearing at the innermost pole, ripping it out and opening up a wide open breach. The digger threw it away, already moving on to take on the next exercise yard. All while the fire engine gave a few controlling blasts, keeping the guards on the outside down, making sure they couldn't plug the breach.
-For all their whoops and cheers, the mammals on the inside held back.
Waited.
As if the reality of what would come next had just slammed into them.
Closing his eyes, taking a breath in, Timofey stepped forward to lead them, only for a brown, black and white blur to dart past. Luke Ruta sped off on all four paws, one of the guards outside giving a futile 'hey!' and shooting off with a taser, only for it to spark off wide, merely frying the floor.
And then the hare's sicko wolf friend followed. Another one with decades ahead of him inside and nothing to lose.
The bear with not long left went to grab for Beavis' arm but found him already running, the arctic ursid noting that he wasn't just not going to be leading this, he wouldn't even get on the podium. Either way, he began marching forward, leaping into the no-mammals land and then out onto the forbidden verges of green grass, soft and cool under his feet, if mixed up with freshly overturned mud.
Shying away, he ran around what lingered of the the toxic smoke, turning to take on one of the rising guards only for a blast of water to deal with him. The ram from earlier gave a yell, ordering him to stop, TASER rising.
Snarling, Timofey charged and leapt, feeling the prick of metal bolts into his fur and then the burning pain ripping through his whole body as he collided and they rolled together, the guards' screams mixing with his.
Crashed on the ground, his twitching limbs starting to regain their senses, he looked on as the ram blinked and looked up, punching out with an elbow. Timofey held him tight, even as the punches came, even as he struggled to get up, body twitching. Inmates cheered and called him on as they raced past, the bear turning and shot-putting the guard up and into the tangled mess of fence. There was a yell and a bleat as he was left there, wool caught in the razerwire, more and more mammals running out past him.
The bear noted a few remained. A deer with no antlers, a raccoon, some more… -He saw the grey kangaroo bounce out only to turn, charging back forward and vaulting over the fence back into the yard, staying there if only to brag to the otter guard that he could do it..
The bear shook his head. What was he doing here? He turned and began running, mixed with the others. Faces he was familiar with, some from the other blocks.
He was suddenly struck with a worrying thought, pushing his nose to the ground and sniffing, getting that damn groundhog's scent and then charging forward, down onto all fours. Both knew where they needed to go, where the supplies were, where they would actually gain a chance of getting out of here, rather than being stranded out in the open in black and white stripes and a stupid look on their faces as the cops arrived.
But even if he was just as stupid as the rest, that was no guarantee that Beavis wouldn't be followed, others wouldn't find out. He turned the corner, ready to…
"Hey, here!"
He ground to a halt, pulling himself back behind a thicket of trees. The woodchuck was waiting there, trembling, a giddy look on his face. Timofey nodded, giving the mammal a fist-bump.
"Pretty cool, huh! Why don't more crooks do that?"
Timofey gave a chuckle, only to look off. "If in war zone, I can see," he said, breathing out. "Few are that… audacious."
"Ha, maybe they should be. Those guards couldn't do anything!"
He nodded. "But T-U-S-K can."
The excited smile was slapped off of Beavis' face. "Oh-okay, we get to the vehicle, we get out of here."
The bear nodded, gesturing him along, keeping tight to the ground. Off in the distance he could hear more commotion from back at the youth prison, more flickering of flames, more yells, whoops, cheers, screams. -These mammals would have earned the wrath of god for this.
Then again, with the night of the riots, they already had.
Like Luke and his wolf friend, those with nothing to lose had so much less to fear leaping into the unknown.
The bear kept close to the trees, conscious that out in the open he'd be an easy target. -Were he brown furred he'd strip his and his escapees uniform off, hide them better, but as it were black and white was a better option than just white.
Stepping down a gulley onto a small dirt road, the duo turned. Walking down, waiting. Their pick-up would be making circuits of the area, but were they to reach a small water-pump hut the door would be unlocked, a quick hideaway.
Hearing a rolling sound behind them, they split up into the woods, behind the trees, waiting before jumping out as they saw their ride appear. A large big rig sans trailer truck, probably the one bringing the remote controlled vehicles to them, rolled into view. Recognising the description Timofey leapt out and waved them down, watching as they stopped.
The giant black bear inside jumped out, running to grab onto Timofey, tight. "BROTHER!"
"Brother," the younger bear said as he realised the mammal was one of his own species, just dyed up. He reciprocated, holding him tight. "You came."
"Rattigan came," the bear smiled. "We came. Not like Big or Kozlov." He spat on the ground. "We are true bears, we look after our own."
"Da." Timofey agreed.
"-And others."
They looked over to Beavis, the driver walking forward. "For small mammals, the fuel tanks open up," he said, running to one of the side mounted tanks and pulling it open. Waving the rodent in, Beavis followed, crawling into the tight space as it was closed up.
"Hey, wait, they got you…" He began, before it was closed tight.
Timofey glanced up, the driver shrugging. "Others I was told to pick up. Brown hare, he…"
Eyes widening, growl growing, Timofey turned to the fuel tank, ready to pull it open and pull out his charge from that…
"-They separate!" the driver cut in, paws up. Timofey turned to him. "They separate, mesh grill." He sniggered. "Only get freaky if they both really want to."
"-And wolf?" Timofey asked.
"Other tank, all to himself, tight squeeze," the driver said, gesturing Timofey back to the cab. "Hope he go to toilet before…"
The bear nodded, following the lead up to the passenger cab.
"Get clothes on," he was instructed, being pointed down to a set of overalls. "Where you can, chuck uniform."
Timofey nodded, looking on as he was handed a new ID. A new name. A card explaining his background, how to answer if they were pulled over. "So, I am your albino son?"
"Easier to colour your nose on run than whole body," the driver said, pausing as he pushed over a small box. "Contacts, turn eyes red."
"Thanks," Timofey said, starting to get to work as they carried on.
"Hurry, I want to get to main roads soon. ZPD will be delayed, but will come."
"How delayed," the bear asked, starting the actions.
"-Local squad also have fire, along with fire department. Heavy forces started on way up from Zootopia, I want to be on motorway going down as they go up. Fortunately, they will have problems." He smiled. "They will be flying blind by then. Did you know whole emergency service has just one command, one backup?" He turned to Timofey and smiled. "What can I say but, not great plan."
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With a crash another section of the wall came down, clouds of concrete dust kicking up and mixing with the fuming manchineel smoke that rose around the control cabin of the vehicles.
Inmates were pouring out, so many of them polar bears, those caught throughout the many escapades. But so many more just mammals in the right place, at the right time, getting out.
McHorn charged around the corner, a heavily armoured squad following them, Carmelita, Nick and Judy amongst them. The bunny held the pistol in her grip, taking a calming breath in as the rhino at the front threw a smoke grenade and flashbang into the breach, already reaching out for his megaphone. The two grenades went off, a group of mammals stumbling as they crawled through, one unfortunate one pitching straight into one of the diggers, recoiling in a loud coughing fit.
They were given a shot with tranq darts, the 'lucky' ones.
"PRISONERS! WE ARE AUTHORIZED TO USE LETHAL FORCE!" He called out, clips going in as the mammals advanced. It was Carmelita who fired first, a gunshot striking the leg of a wannabe escapee elk and sending him back against the flow.
"Gas masks!" Nick called, pulling his own on. Given the toxicity, none of them would be able to reach in and stop the diggers until the manchineel smokers ran out. But right now, in the midst of the fumes, amongst watering eyes, it was an advantage none of them were going to give up.
"STAND BACK FROM THE BREACH!" the rhino shouted again, firing off a pair of warning shots into the gap. "STAND BACK FRO…"
A blast rang out, the massive mammal flinching down and dropping his weapon, hoof coming up to clutch his shoulder. The others were already turning, spotting an escaped prisoner holding up a gun and releasing a hail of bullets his way. The polar bear turned to flee only to jolt and stumble, collapsing to the floor, dead.
"CUSS. HE'S ARMED THEM! SHOOT TO KILL!" The rhino warned, the mammals advancing slowly, half pointing their guns out into the street, half towards the gap as another concrete monolith was pulled down, exposing the yard within.
Judy felt a pit in her stomach. Not many were left inside. -Those getting out now were just the stragglers, those in for a short sentence or on remand, too smart or with too much to lose to take the chance.
None of them were polar bears.
The whole force behind the riots, behind that chaos, Rattigan's footsoldiers were out, in the city, by the look of it armed and dangerous.
"Sir," she began, walking up.
McHorn ignored her, reaching up to his radio. "Chief. We'll be needed in the city. We need to get what inmates are left inside somewhere sa…"
He was cut off as yells, screams and warnings rang out, the mammal turning his head just in time to see an excavator bucket swinging his way. He ducked back, the end of his horn getting clipped as it shuddered to a halt and then pushed down, ready to crush him. He and the others shimmied out of the way as the vehicle began moving once more, its treads shuddering across the tarmac as they began rolling in convoy. One or two reached up, giving a cutting attack at the outermost wall of a cell block, rains of brick chippings falling off and down. Otherwise they marched on, defiant, pulling their way towards other sections of the building.
McHorn ordering them together, he split off a few mammals to go inside the courtyards and help hold the breaches. A few of the guards that had been inside joined him, even one that limped along, leg twisted. The bunny wondered if he'd been up in one of the shattered remains of a watch tower, the first target of the physical assault.
It was cut away as she, Carm, Nick and the rest of 'the smart ones' were ordered to follow around, try and stop the machines, then run after and hunt down as many of the escapees as possible.
They nodded, taking off, the fox todd taking a step back. "We need to ignore them."
"-What, the diggers?" Fangmeyer asked. "-We've got to…"
"The escapees!" Nick said, looking up.
The others turned to him. "WHAT!?"
"He's right," Judy said. "This is all a distraction. They're working on some very dangerous things, this, letting those bears out and arming them. They just want us spending all our time and resources cleaning them up while they work on their master plan."
"-Which is?" Pennington asked, the elephant coming over.
Judy glanced to Nick and Carm, the vixen taking the lead. "Developing a form of superweapon. Do you remember that explosion on the night of the riot, out at sea, that…"
"-That was an LNG tanker or something going up!" Someone said.
"And that was the cover up," the vixen hissed.
"-So what are they after and how can we help," one of the mammals asked.
"I think they're going after some witnesses in the nocturnal district," Nick said. "To try and lever a current prisoner, an expert on these kind of things, to help them. Do that, his family doesn't get harmed."
"And we can help them how, as opposed to helping up here!" the elephant asked. "Chances are it's already being done."
"I…" Nick said, before his ears and tail fell. "We sent a specialist mammal their way, I… I don't know if the nocturnal district is going through the same thing, but…"
Carmelita held Nick's paw tight. "Right now, the faster we can put the fires up here out, the better. Just because they're a distraction doesn't mean we can let them rage."
"She's right," Judy agreed, the fox finally nodding along.
"Okay, heartwarming stuff aside," Pennington asked, pointing at the marching diggers with her gas-masked trunk. "Any ideas how to deal with those?"
She was met with a clink and a set of shots blasting out from Grizzoli. "Persistence?"
"Aim for the engines," someone else called, the cops arranging in a firing line and starting to unleash hell. A whole round of clips was launched into the trailing digger, sparking and flicking off of it before they halted.
"It's armoured," Carmelita growled. "Do you mammals have anything stronger?"
"What do you think we are, the army?" Fangmeyer cut in, as Jackson marched up.
"The helicopter!" the male tiger said.
All eyes turned to him.
"-We fly it overhead, we'll clear out most of the smoke, you smallees can then go in and rip out the controls."
Nick smiled, only to wince. "Communications are down, we won't…"
"What about the water cannon?" Snarlov asked.
It was Higgins who answered. "The diggers threw their debris onto the main off ramp, we'd need to clear it, it's…"
"It's better than nothing," Pennington said, the elephant stomping her foot. "We can haul those pieces out of the way…"
"I tried," Higgins yelled. "Some are too large…"
"-Then ramp over," she yelled, thrusting her trunk out. "Or are we going to let them just demolish the whole Precinct. Look! They're almost at the front!"
The mammals turned to see the vehicles turning, starting to make their way up the large megafauna access ramp. The shutters at the front of the Precinct were being lowered, but this wasn't like in the riots. Those machines could rip themselves inside, get in, and start wreaking havoc.
If the ZPD couldn't keep the still smoking fires under control now, they certainly wouldn't be able to after that.
"And where the hell is the ZFD!" Someone was yelling, the mammals looking around. Seeing a few smoke marks rising up around, Nick knew where. And with news coming in that both the main telecom wires to Precinct One, the mobile masts nearby AND the central emergency services response command had been knocked out, they just wouldn't know about how a single engine here could save the day unless someone ran over and told them.
And by then it would be too late.
He closed his eyes, focussing. Come on fox, come on, there had to be a…
"-Idea!" All eyes turned to…
"Clawhauser," Higgins yelled. "What are you doing out here!"
"I…" he began, paws up. "Fire drill. Bogo's orders."
"Get somewhere safe," he began yelling, only for a round of calls to let the cheetah speak rang up.
"Listen, they made sure that the ZFD or the water cannon couldn't reach us, right?" he began. "-And not just to stop the fire. Mist it up, you could suppress the death smoke."
Nick glanced to him, then the crowd of assembled mammals, eyes slowly widening.
"But it's not like we have any fire hoses to replace that!" Trunkaby said, arms up. "What do we even have, the weedkiller sprays from the groundskeepers."
"-No," Nick said, stepping up to the side of Clawhauser. "But we do have elephants, and watering hole plaza!"
The various pachyderms in attendance blinked, turning to look at each other, smiles beginning to grow on their faces.
.
.
.
.
Listening to the chaos outside, Petey smiled.
Faith, faith was a good thing.
And for all the ZPD had it for each other, for their misplaced confidence, he had it in the greatest mind of his generation.
A small rattle began growing in front of him, the door to his cell shaking before pulling open, a large polar bear guard standing there, one of her baggy eyes rising expectantly.
"Do I know you Maaaaaa'm?" Petey asked, standing up.
"No," she said, her accent thick. "But I hope you know…"
A small brown figure popped up from her shoulder, smile feral and wide as he nodded. "Ye-ye-ye-ye…"
The polar bear dropped down a set of guard uniforms in front of the goat, rolling her paws fast as she closed the door, keeping watch. It didn't take long for the caprid to slip it on, or not notice the final little addition. He grabbed the small bag and, closing his left eye, slammed it against it, letting a pool of fake blood flow down. Hunching over, clutching his wound, he joined her as she began making her way off and out. "So, you're big second in command, Da?"
"That would be the missus," he smiled. "But I would be in third place, after that."
"Good," she said, bringing up a walkie talkie of some kind and starting to fake talk into it, a pair of officers racing past the other way without a hint of suspicion. "-Melissa. Melissa Krotstoit. Fellow guest at this building, until little mammal came to check me out."
Petey smiled, looking at the tiny bat. "One of those mini-communicators, planning this for a while, huh?"
The winged mammal nodded his head vigorously, proud smile plastered on. Petey, despite maintaining his faked grimace, couldn't help but let one grow. Under the ZPD's very noses, a few back and forths, laying the trap in place until it all came together. He had to admit there was some luck to it, had he been with those meddlesome interviewing cops then he'd have no chance to get out, even without…
He froze, racing forward to grab the polar bears paw. "There's a mammal here, a very dangerous one. If anyone is to see through our disguise and take us, it will be him."
She nodded. "Da. Head down, play the part. What is this cops name?"
"Sly Cooper," he said with a shudder. "And he isn't a cop. He's a thief, turned good."
She spat at the ground. "Traitor," she growled, "like the rest of them. I will take him."
"He'll take you," he said, "that raccoon can…"
She broke off, snorting at the species name in question. "Oh, little bandit mask huh, well if I see Yenot I will…"
She was cut off by frantic yammering, pleading, begging from Fidget, the bat shredding any last speck of dignity to try and convince her that this was a bad plan.
She shook her head. "Eh, he is lucky I have family to reunite with."
Behind her Petey cocked his head in confusion, a smile and sad little shake of his head coming out. Still, they carried on together. Soon reaching a heavy plexiglass door she froze, bringing out her keys and snarling as she began to scroll through them, trying them fast and with each one only get a harsh beep in return.
Fidget began yammering something out, the bear following and starting to grunt, slam them in place, as if trying to attract attention.
-A click opened the door, a terrified looking correctional officer peeking in and hurrying her through. "Fire in one of the laundry stores, if you help me we can get the buckets in the cleaners cupboards and fill it up."
"Any help?" Petey asked.
"I… -Can't you get to the med station yourself or…"
"He is gonna loose eye soon," Melissa growled.
"I…" The guard was broken off by more calls for assistance. "-Do what you need to do," he said, racing off.
The other two carried on in a different direction. Down some stairs, up to a metal door with a fire bar attached and then out, into the gloom of a side alley. The group quickly began making their way on, Petey letting himself clean up his 'wounded' eye somewhat. Less need for sympathy here, more need for better vision.
Fidget was yammering some more, guiding them over to a small waiting car. Reaching under, Melissa felt around before pulling out a key, opening it up. In they got, the engine on before setting off. Their route, as he expected, took them away from the front of the building. Understandable, but a shame, really.
He'd have been delighted in seeing the ZPD flail about battling whatever his master had created.
.
.
.
.
"Hold it, hold it… -FIRE!"
Nick watched on as the battery of pachyderms advanced, letting loose with their trunks and spraying out a mist of water against the rising smoke. For a moment it quelled it, pushing it back on their side to the point that the details of the smokers and the machine's cabs could be seen. Welded on tight, or welded shut, it was as they thought.
A pronghorn officer, gas masked and clothed up as best they could charged in, hoof on the tracks and pushing himself up as the water suppression ended, the smoke beginning to flow out once more. He held onto the boom arm, laid his weapon against a small gap in the armour around the hydraulics and fired, over and over, bullets shredding into the hydraulic lines running up the steel arm.
He kicked off, wincing slightly as the smoke coiled around him and tried to catch up, a few mammals there to receive him. Wounded, some parts of him lashed by the smoke, but okay. Whatever pain he felt was quelled off as the sound of grinding metal against stone rang out, the digger arm slumping down impotent and the bucket left to grind along the stone rampway.
"Don't just stand there!" Judy ordered, a few mammals immediately racing in and letting loose a set of flares they'd scrounged up. They flew into the mist, vanishing, before an orange glow began to emanate from within. Soon growing as it trailed up and down the arm, dripping off and racing out across the newly spreading oil slick.
"Round two!" Nick ordered, waving on the elephants for another round of suppressive fire. This time though it was just to keep the clouds clear as a group of other megafauna officers carried over a heavy concrete traffic stop, groaning and straining as they slotted it through the ramp railing, far end pushed against a crook in the building wall and near end one of the supporting posts.
They retreated before the smoke could reach them, the various officers already working around to try again even as they held their breath, waiting to see if it would work.
Normally a vehicle like that would have no issue climbing over the bollard or shimmying it out of the way. Here though the dead excavator arm limping pushed into it and halted, unable to do anything to combat its blockage.
It held up its vehicle.
Which held up the rest.
The next in line tried to reach over, soon finding itself unable to do so. The rear one had already started in a retreat, aiming to go the long way around.
The important thing though was that they couldn't reach the front. Not now, not for a good while.
All as other officers were syphoning off petrol from the patrol vehicles and filling up glass bottles. Nick smiled, as did Judy, as did Carmelita.
Mammals began peeling off, going to fight the fires inside the building. There wasn't much point in sweeping out for the escapees, not without the ramps cleared and vehicles ready and open. -Already the megafauna officers, recruiting up any large civilian they saw emerging out nearby, were off to do just that.
Carm, laptop back out, was typing away fast, walkie-talky up as she tried to relay what she could. Clawhauser, next to her, doubled up the effort, talks of the attack on the central command and the Zootopia Youth Penitentiary coming in. Nick felt the pit in his stomach grow, Judy coming up to hold his paw.
He let his slip into it, and tightened like a vice as Carmelita began reporting in muffled reports of a similar attack in the Nocturnal District. Hitting the Central Precinct, tearing down the walls, taking out the communication hub for the entire main cavern. Nighthowlers.
He looked away, even as cheers and yells came up as Officers returned out, hurling Polevktov Cocktails at the diggers, sending them up in flames and grinding one after the other to a terminal halt.
"YES!" Carmelita yelled, racing over. "It feels good to use those things against our enemies for once," she smiled, paws crossed. "Maybe up somewhere Mahmaheim is looking down and smiling at us for this."
Nick just nodded slowly, looking over. "It's not us who needs that," he said.
She paused, looking at him, as he grimaced. "I just hope your living legend lives up to it," he said, trembling as he looked down. "There's a family down there relying on him."