Chapter Text
Nick blinked his eyes open.
One moment, the fox officer and his wolverine partner were serving an arrest warrant for Mister Brian Jumper to Miss Karen Jumper of 756 Alfalfa Road in Bunnyburrow. The next, the two were fighting for their lives as the world exploded around them.
Another blue uniform had a tight grip on him as the tan-coloured fur of the one holding him either a lion or a cheetah.
The world seemed out of focus.
Voices and sounds seemingly sounding underwater.
Then, there was clarity as everything sharpened.
“WILDE! YOU, OKAY?!” Officer Fisc Delgato shouted at his fellow classmate after dragging the wounded fox behind a parked cruiser.
“I HEAR BELLS!” Nick shouted out as he shook his head to clear it and tried to sit up. The sudden flare of pain from his chest made the red fox rethink that action.
“Thank the Lamb!” Fisc shouted back as he fired at the mud burrow that was somehow shooting at them.
Snaps, hisses, and cracks filled the air as the other responding officers fired back at the burrow.
“Dispatch, this is Delgato! Wilde is okay! Requesting backup at 756 Alfalfa Road. I need air support!” Fisc yelled into his radio microphone as shots thunked into the solid armour plates of the cruiser.
“Delgato, this is Overlord. Get small. JDAM inbound” a different voice came out of the radio as a streak of light impacted the burrow, flinging dirt and ice everywhere.
Silence reigned for all of two minutes before the two ZPD officers looked skyward at a circling drone. The drone waggled its wings and departed.
“Who’s writing the report on this one?” Fisc breathed out as an orange and white medevac helicopter arrived with gunships.
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Two Days Earlier…
Auxiliary Guards Barracks,
Wilde Estate,
Hooferson Drive,
Bunnyburrow,
Tri-Burrows
Nick woke up to the beeping of an alarm on his side table. The red fox looked over to the digital clock and slapped a paw on it to silence the beep.
Nick threw off the blanket and got himself ready for the day.
Unlike his dorm room, the small shoebox of a room only had enough space for the bed, a cabinet for his uniforms, and a table facing the window.
The next officer on the morning shift was next door as they all had the bunks nearest the exit. When they would trade shifts next month, Nick hoped he got the P.M. shift as he took a lot of energy just waking.
As taught by Oscar, Nick fixed his bed. Pulling the covers back and tucking the blanket back under the mattress.
Nick did not even know he was consciously doing it as Oscar had impressed upon him the many sleepless nights on his own training schedule.
Once finished fixing up his bed, Nick opened the window to aerate his room as he grabbed his towel and made for the bathroom for a quick shower. Outside the fox, met Fisc and Ben as they also stumbled out for the showers.
Oscar had blown a gasket when he had learned that the quarters that the Bunnyburrow Police Department had selected for the predator officers was an unheated shack in the middle of nowhere.
To add insult to injury, the BBPD had claimed that it would build character while their own officers had the best insulated and thoroughly modernised building in the Tri-Burrows.
Built by the prince himself with his own money, the multi-storey glass and concrete structure towered above the flat lands. Supposedly, there were several spare quarters for police auxiliaries.
The spare quarters had been turned into a game room without informing the prince and the entire command structure was eviscerated financially. Liens had been placed on everything by the law firm of Fleece, Deym, and Drei until the entire 1.6 billion dollars was paid back.
It was a perfect case of FAFO. [f*ck around, find out]
The sixteen officers had spent their first day as guests at the Bunnyburrow estate of his younger brother. It was a most luxurious night for the sixteen predators as the beds were just like the hotel.
When he and the others reported in, after they were dropped off at the station by the Household Guard, FBI vehicles were outside the police station with shackled police officers being marched into prison vans for the audacity of ripping off their own benefactor.
With the entire police headquarters effectively a crime scene, the officers had to be sourced from the former sheriff deputies of Deerbrooke and Predburrow.
The dispatcher was Benjamin Clawhauser, installed by the FBI in their field office at the embassy. The cheetah very much in his element as he radioed in complaints to officers and had charted the shoestring force in the most efficient manner possible.
This morning, Ben was staggering along. The cheetah was exhausted as he was the only radio-certified police officer among the sixteen and none of the former deputies had current licences. Yesterday, and for most of the night, Ben had been directing paramedics and fire engines to a mass casualty situation caused by icy roads.
“Hang in there, Ben. I hear that Paul will replace you for tonight” Nick clapped a paw on the cheetah’s shoulder to reassure his classmate. Paul being Paul Howlington.
Bryansk had reverted instead to his second name of Volodymyr.
“Gods Above, I hope so” Ben answered as the cheetah was effectively benched until they had a rotating shift of officers for the radio dispatch as well. While his classmates had eight-hour shifts, Ben had eighteen-hour shifts. With Paul close to being certified, they could share twelve-hour shifts instead of relying solely on Ben for everything.
The FBI and R.I.S. were helping in that regard as they took the bulk of radio traffic for the Tri-Burrows.
The four mammals, Paul Bryansk was also on the morning shift today, stepped into the communal showers and let the hot water fall over them. Methodically scrubbing each other to get themselves clean.
Ben was too tired to think about rubbing one out and the cheetah finished first. The lithe cheetah stepping into the fur dryer to get dry.
Nick took the dryer beside Ben and got himself dried out. Nick emerged from the dryer as a red-orange puffball. Volodymyr waited for Nick to finish and got in himself.
Fisc had his own fur dryer, and the lion took time to do his mane as well. The only reason they were getting up at zero dark thirty was because the lion took forever in the morning.
“What do you think is served for breakfast?” Nick asked as the meals had been described as a soldier’s garrison breakfast by the household staff.
Very heavy and filling fare that would last until lunch.
Lunch could be had at any of the shops on the Main Streets of Deerbrooke, Bunnyburrow, and Predburrow. Each new officer was supposed to have an allowance per day of $100 to spend. The BBPD accounting department had denied that there was space in the budget for the probationary officers. They were now facing one hundred and seventy-four counts of cheque fraud and verified wire fraud as they had lined their pockets.
The in-house auditor was summarily executed by the R.I.S. for not doing his job.
The prince’s estate paid it out to the bank accounts of the ZPD officers for the next three months. The deputies were folded into the police service and their new salaries would begin on the 15th and 30th of January 2001.
“As long as there is coffee, I don’t mind” Volodymyr answered as the badger was very much a nocturnal mammal.
More so than Nick himself.
“Good morning, officers! How was your sleep?” Major Friedkin asked as the polar bear thoroughly enjoyed the brisk morning air of the countryside.
“Horrible major” Ben complained as the cheetah looked dead on his paws, despite the shower.
“I’m sorry, probie. That’s how we all get started” the major apologised as she saw the toll it took on the cheetah. “Usually not as bad as a mass casualty event”.
“Major, if I may interject, the only reason it has gotten that bad is because the Bunny Burrow police chief only wanted to make a quick buck from His Royal Highness. The FBI is already uncovering caches of money on the Kopek homestead and the deceased’s family managed to fund the election with the money diverted their way from the budget earmarked for predator employment” Captain Anwar bin Ibrahim, formerly of 6th Para, inserted himself into the conversation.
The black-backed golden jackal owed his commission to the prince. He was about to be demobbed as surplus to requirements when he was selected as part of the Household Division for the prince’s Animalian security.
“Are you allowed to share that, captain?” Major Friedkin asked as she had also been kept in the dark by the FBI.
“As long as Officer Wilde is in your presence, I am allowed to share it. His Royal Highness left a few other safeguards which I will not disclose at this time. Now, I believe that you were wanting breakfast. His Royal Highness’ Lord Chamberlain has set up a sumptuous meal of black pudding, turkey breast, gravy, eggs every which way, loaves of bread, and your choice of hot beverage. No hot toddies as you are not allowed to be drunk on duty” the jackal informed the officers as some more shuffled out from their rooms to have a shower.
These were from the PM shift, and they had reports to work on. The night shift mammals would be up much later, at around 3PM.
“Very well, captain. Is the breakfast in the same area as yesterday?” Major Friedkin asked as the polar bear would need a quick brush before she could join her probies.
“Of course, major. Officers, kindly follow me” Captain Ibrahim beckoned the four predators to him as the jackal made a sharp about-face and walked back out into the falling snow.
Nick just looked at his fellows, shrugged, and followed the jackal in the direction of the main manor.
The red fox craving a cappuccino with some fried eggs and gooey cheese.
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B-270
Front Portico,
Duke Inverness’ Main Manor Entrance,
Bunnyburrow,
Tri-Burrows SEZ
“Morning rookie” Patrol Officer Erick Wolverton, formerly of the Deerbrooke Sheriff’s Office, nodded at his new partner.
“Morning Officer Wolverton. Here, I got you something” Nick offered a paper bag and a thermos to the wolverine in light green uniform with the same shield that Nick wore. Nick’s own thermos sat in the cupholder below the portable computer that was standard to all cruisers.
“Aw, you shouldn’t have. Mabel will be upset if I don’t eat her potato salad” the wolverine answered as he nonetheless accepted the package.
Food from the prince’s estate was always second to none. Especially for an underpaid police officer who could only dream of luxury dining.
“So” Nick asked as the wolverine put the SUV into drive and left the driveway “what’s our patrol area today?”
“To be honest, I don’t really know. We were all mobilised yesterday to cover the loss of the entire Bunny Burrow Police Department. Hell, I don’t know how I can help you. The furthest I ever got was Main Street where the shops are” Officer Wolverton answered.
The wolverine had only been on the Deerbrooke County’s Sheriff’s Office for two weeks before everyone was demobbed with severance packages.
“Well, I found out that the BBPD folded everyone into their department and got all the entrenched corrupt idiots. They thought they could make a quick buck from His Royal Highness and get away with it” Nick answered, feeling weird about talking about his brother in the third person.
“Yowch!” the wolverine winced as he followed the SUV’s inbuilt GPS towards the high street. “I caught the tail-end of that broadcast when I came home from tending my family’s turkeys. You’d have thought that we won another war. What with all the celebrations over in Predburrow and Deerbrooke that those involved would be executed to the highest degree”.
“I think you mean prosecuted, sir” Nick respectfully corrected his superior officer as they passed snowy fields and festive scarecrows.
“Executed. The charter the three local government’s signed gave absolute authority to His Royal Highness Prince Oscar Theodoric Windsor-Hanover to do as he pleased. You can bet there was egg on everyone’s faces when they learned about it” the wolverine replied as he made a legal left turn, waiting for a gaily painted farmer’s truck to pass them by going the opposite direction on the asphalted highway.
“Why are we headed to Main Street?” Nick asked, changing the topic as he read the signs.
“Because we are using the old sheriff’s office for now. The central location is all well and good for the headquarters but getting anywhere on dirt roads with anything short of 4x4s and our response time drops. We were lucky having a fifteen-minute response time in the olden days” the wolverine admitted as he scratched his head.
“Also” the wolverine dropped his voice so that only Nick heard it, “these newfangled tech makes me nervous. Haven’t been trained on anything proper like for months”.
The wolverine’s accent dropped from Animalian neutral to the distinct country twang that made many a Zootopian look down on those from outside.
“Tell you the truth, I’m just out of the academy myself” Nick admitted, adopting the country accent.
“Dispatch, this is Baker Two Seven Oh. We are approaching Main Street and parking at the old sheriff’s office in Bunnyburrow” Nick picked up the microphone and transmitted his location back to Ben at the REDM’s communications hub.
Officer Wolverton parked the SUV in reverse inside the parking slots reserved for police/sheriff vehicles. The wolverine turned off the engine and killed the heat inside the SUV. Nick exited first and the wolverine last.
As he was taught, Nick checked the front and rear bumpers for any dings or dents that the motor pool may falsely attribute to him. The red fox making notes in a small spiral notebook with a red rocket pen.
Tucking said notebook back into his left chest pocket after he was done.
The way the door of the cruiser slammed told Nick more than the wolverine ever could. The solid thump without any echoes let Nick know that the doors were armoured, and the glass probably was as well.
The door well also had several extensions that were not found on normal SUVs. Nick only saw it on Oscar’s armoured vehicles.
“Come on. We have to clock in” Officer Wolverton hollered at his partner and the two small predators walked up the shovelled steps up to the main entrance of the old sheriff's office. The antique glass globes on poles outside with the black lettering of SHERIFF on them.
Nick had neglected to bring his jacket with him. To the former native of Tundratown, and because of Oscar’s insistence in endurance running in the same district, the cold never bothered him anyway.
Nick opened the door and let his more senior partner in, closing it behind him.
The squeal of brakes from outside almost made Nick exit again. When there was a lack of an almighty crash, Nick shrugged and followed the wolverine to an old-fashioned bundy clock set behind an automatic sliding glass door that led to the rest of the station.
The wolverine removed a punch card from the Out shelf with his name on it and inserted it into the clock. The clock made a ch-clack sound, and the wolverine removed the now stamped card; placing it inside the In shelf.
Nick put the back of his right paw against a scanner and looked up at a small glass port inset into the walls. The fox removed his cover (the peaked cap) and waited five seconds for an audible tone.
“Good morning, Officer Wilde. You and Officer Wolverton may now make your way to the bullpen” Talon’s mechanical voice startled Nick as his mouth went dry.
So, that’s what Oscar meant when he said there had been “Improvements”.
“Thank you, Talon” Nick informed the A.I. as he took the wolverine by the arm, pulling him away from the trainwreck about to happen when Delgato appeared to sign in.
“Am I missing somethin’?” Officer Wolverton scratched at his head as the two walked into the bullpen and joined the other officers.
“Glad you could make it Erick, Officer Wilde” Chief Badgerton nodded at the newcomers. The badger tapping on a tablet computer in his arms, with his reading glasses perched on his snout.
The badger wearing the khaki uniform of a sheriff, contrasting with the blue uniforms of ZPD and the light blue uniforms of the state troopers in the room with him.
“Morning, foxy” State Trooper Alvarez nodded at Nick. The deer sipping from a to-go cup of coffee from somewhere.
“Morning, trooper” Nick replied as he could not see the state trooper’s name aside from the patch on his left sleeve that had a carrot, a clawed wolf paw and a deer’s silhouette on it. The Smokey Bear hat on the desk in front of the deer also marked him as a state trooper.
Nick put down his own peaked cap on the desk as Erick put down his ballcap. Nick’s actions mostly automatic by this point as his lessons with Oscar were short and harsh.
“Sorry, we’re late!” Officer Fisc Delgato announced as the lion’s partner, Officer Joseph Skipps, snagged another seat behind Nick.
Officer Paul Bryansk emerged from a side door with a tray of two 1-dozen doughnut box as his partner did the same with a tray of coffees in Styrofoam cups.
It was Punkin’ Donuts.
Nick’s favourite dessert as he had told Oscar at the hotel.
Nick got one Boston Crème and a paper plate. Erick had a bear claw. Fisc snagged a chocolate butternut, the rabbit chose a plain glazed.
“Is that everyone?” Chief Badgerton asked, the badger noticeably more relaxed than the unlamented late Anthony Kopek.
“Yes chief” a bison in the light green colours of Predburrow Sheriff’s Office nodded from the back of the room.
“Okay. Thank you all for coming. I am sure many of you did not believe that I was reinstated as chief. Well, here I am” the badger talked in his own unhurried manner, eliciting chuckles as he was less uptight than Kopek.
“First off, we have had some reports of drunken revelry from last night. Not surprised that the complaint came from old Mister Jameson from the Daily Clarion tabloid. Old fart does nothing but complain. Still, we have to treat every case like it is serious. So, Officers Delgato and Skipps, that one is yours” the badger read from the tablet in his paw, looking up to dismiss the officers he had named.
Fisc and Skipps both left with their plates of doughnuts.
“Next, we had a case of drunk driving that became a nine-car pileup on I-27. Big thank you for the quick response to our friends over at the state troopers’ office” the deer sleepily raised his cup, “the radio dispatcher from the ZPD, and to the military presence for the medical evacuation”.
Ben was absent, already coordinating with the others at the aptly named Hub. There was a warthog sergeant major with U.S.A.F. markings on his light blue uniform, nodding calmly along.
“A missing mammal report on Miss Judy Hopps was rescinded earlier this morning when the doe was found hiding in her father’s truck. Officers Wilde and Wolverton, this one’s yours. Build up some rapport with the local rabbit families. This one has ties with the local embassy” Chief Badgerton dismissed Nick and Erick with their assignment for the day.
“Lastly, I need to remind everyone that the greatest number of domestic disputes occurs in the build-up to Christmas because of all the alcohol flowing at the parties. Keep the peace if you can, detain if you must. Most folks here are armed, and our vests won’t cut it. If you know anyone willing to part with some old vests, I’d be grateful.
Our Christmas party will be held, like always, on the estate of the Duke of Inverness. Best behaviour out of all my officers. Maybe we can ask for some goodies before we go home” Chief Badgerton closed the briefing on a high note, and the badger walked out the same side door that Paul and his partner had come from.
“Sir?” Officer Bryansk spoke up. “What of those who have no assignments? What will we do?”
“Paperwork. We don’t have full digital archiving yet and the telephone company is already short-staffed as it is with all the outages across the state. So, for those without assignments, it might be more conducive to make a dent in our case encoding backlog. Sorry I don’t have anything else” the badger apologetically stated as he held the door open before exiting the briefing room.
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Nick and Erick traded places. The wolverine sitting in the passenger side as Nick started the vehicle. The deadmammal’s switch was on the steering column and Nick pressed it to get the SUV moving.
That had been one of the first things Oscar had taught as the cruisers he donated all had the same kill-switch configuration. Any mammal unfamiliar with the location of the kill switch would find themselves in a car that did not move.
What Oscar did not tell Nick, as he had no idea if his brother had loose lips, was that the embedded microchip in his brother’s paw functioned as a neutraliser for the car’s computer. The kill-switch was disabled for as long as Nick was driving the car. There was no need to hold down the paddle switch on the steering column.
“Which way was the Hopps’ place?” Nick asked his partner, who just shrugged.
Nick input the address into the car’s navicomputer and the directions were put on screen.
“Dispatch, this is Wilde. We are 10-8” Nick informed Ben as soon as he checked the radio frequency was the same as the one sent to his landline (cellular phone).
“Dispatch copies, Wilde. Safe trip!” Ben’s cheery voice came over the radio as Nick drove the Grand Cherokee out of the parking lot.
Looking both ways, Nick pulled safely out onto the main thoroughfare and followed the navigational device back whence they came.
“Mind if I ask you a personal question, Officer Wilde?” Erick asked as the wolverine fiddled with his safety belt.
“You just did. But go on” Nick replied as he scanned the black tarmac in contrast with the white fields of snow.
“What made one of your kind want to become a police officer?” Erick asked.
As Nick glanced at his partner, the wolverine simply held up his paws in surrender. “Sorry if that’s a sore point. Foxes as feds are more common than regular police officers” Erick tried to walk back his question.
Nick sighed out as he let out a self-deprecating laugh. That was what he kept asking himself the whole time he was at the ZPA.
“Ever wanted to be a part of something larger than yourself?” Nick asked instead as he came to the turnoff from the highway.
“I guess? There was the Junior Ranger Scouts over in Predburrow, but the Scout Master was charged with ‘Inappropriate sexual actions against minors’ after a goat said he was touched in his no-no place” Erick answered.
“This was when I was seven or eight years old. I wanted to join the Junior Ranger Scouts. There was a troop near where I used to live, and they were accepting anyone to come join up” Nick began his story.
“So, you became a scout?” Erick snorted out a laugh, unaware that talking about the JRS was a sore point for Nick.
“No. I got muzzled by five prey bigots before I could even say the oath. All because a fox dared rise above his station” Nick snarked back, killing the conversation.
Silence reigned in the cruiser as the two officers thought of something else to say. Nick dutifully following the route and committing it to memory in case he needed to come back in a hurry.
“I feel sorry for you, bud. Really, I do. We have our own share of bigots. Usually, small-town idiots who act out because they are a big fish in a small pond” Erick finally said, offering an olive branch to the red fox.
“Sorry for lashing out. That sh*t still stings and it’s been sixteen years” Nick apologised as well.
“Hey, no worries. Tell you what. If we can break early today, I’ll bring you over to this little breakfast nook near Galleon’s Lip. My treat” Erick answered, happy that his partner would not hold a grudge.
“I’ll take you up on that. Come on. Let’s go interview the Hopps and figure out why the little bun tried to hide” Nick replied as he fixed his peaked cap to his head, turned off the engine, and opened the door of the parked cruiser.
“Good morning. Officers Wilde and Wolverton looking for Mister Stuart Hopps?” Nick greeted the assembled rabbits on the porch, keeping his fangs hidden and his paws away from his weapons.
Oscar was the only one who smiled with all his fangs.
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“Judy, I know you’re bored! But this does not excuse you from giving your mom and I a scare! We thought we lost you!” Stuart was in the process of telling off his most rambunctious daughter.
The annual work that Judy did at the prince’s estate for summer and winter helped augment the family’s finances and Judy herself did not complain about the workload. She was always going home with treats from the house staff.
His little trier was even on the school’s martial arts team, winning the championship against one of the top-ranked schools on the East Coast. Stu forgot the name. Something that rhymed with kale?
“But Poppa! You said I could go with you to town to pick up some goods from Mister Wesselton’s Wares” Judy protested and that brought Stu short. “I asked and you said yes”.
“Where did you hear that?” Stu asked as he had been talking with Jeremy, not Judy. Stuart Hopps knew that he had closed the door to … oh… that’s where she heard it.
“Jude, I was talking with Jeremy. Were you hiding in his closet again? Did Angelie and Amelie pick on you? I swear those two are a pawful sometimes” Stuart asked his daughter, mind already whirring to yell at his two older daughters that they should be more considerate to Judy.
Judy was no longer listening to her father’s rant about ungrateful does who came home with more buns in the oven than they can manage. The remark still flew over her head.
She heard an unfamiliar car pull up to the porch and pulled on her father’s suspenders.
“Jude, what is it?” Stuart Hopps asked as he heard the slam of an unfamiliar car door.
There was a clearing of a throat, and a voice clearly called out “Good morning. Officers Wilde and Wolverton looking for Mister Stuart Hopps?”
“Cripes, Judy. I hope Sheriff Badgerton sent understanding officers. Filing a false report has a fine and I don’t think we can afford to have one this close to Christmas” Stuart wrung his paws as he quickly walked to the porch.
Judy and the curious ones followed. Even though their mothers were gathered on the porch to swap teething stories and would whack each of them with a wooden spoon.
“Good morning, officers. I’m Stuart Hopps. How can I help you?” Judy heard her father’s voice, somehow sounding contrite and brave at the same time.
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“Sure, we have the right address?” Erick Wolverton asked his partner as the glares from the rabbits in their direction were very unfriendly.
“Yes, we do. I had to ask help from T.A.L.O.N. and he assures me that we are at the right address” Nick answered, the glares sliding off him as he had seen those on exhausted mothers with their first litters.
“Problem with teething kits?” Nick ventured to ask as one rabbit doe broke away from the group.
“Like you wouldn’t believe. Hi, I’m Bonnie Hopps” the stout grey rabbit in a sleeveless plaid shirt introduced herself.
“Officer Nick Wilde, ZPD. My partner, Officer Erick Wolverton, PBPD” Nick introduced himself and his partner with their departments.
As Bonnie was about to open her mouth, a tan rabbit with an iCarrot trucker’s cap, green plaid shirt, and suspenders exited from the front door.
“Good morning, officers. I’m Stuart Hopps. How can I help you?” the tan buck introduced himself.
“Good morning, Mister Hopps. Chief Badgerton sent us regarding a missing mammal’s report. Are we to believe that Miss Judy Hopps has been found?” Nick took the lead; his partner was obviously not comfortable around rabbits.
In another universe, Nick only saw country rabbits as rubes and potential meal tickets. In this one, his proximity to Oscar meant he was prepared.
“Sorry for wasting your time, Officer Wilde. It’s just that we had a bit of a miscommunication and Judy thought she would be the one to accompany me to Mister Wesselton’s Wares down on 24 Main Street” Stuart Hopps informed the fox officer.
“May we talk to Miss Hopps and get her side of the story? It’s not that you are being placed under suspicion. It’s just that we do get runaways in Zootopia, and even abusive parents claim miscommunication as well” Nick asked the rabbits and explaining his reasoning behind calling for the kit.
“By all means, Officer Wilde. Stu, get Judy and whoever else will vouch for her” Bonnie Hopps answered for her husband, subtly letting both officers know who wore the pants in the household.
As her husband turned around to do just that, the grey and cream doe asked the officers “Do the two of you want any refreshments while we wait? I can whip up a mean hot chocolate with whipped cream and toasted marshmallows”.
“No thank you, Missus Hopps. I have a thermos of coffee in the car” Nick politely turned down the offer. Pleased as punch he may be to be treated like an officer, Nick also knew that farmers had thin profit margins.
It did not sit right with him to snack on the family’s limited supply of treats. Nick kept a tight grip on his partner’s belt as the wolverine probably came from a poorer family. The mustelid was salivating at the thought of hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows.
“Is it La Rochelle-grade?” Bonnie joked with the fox officer. Her niece, Juniper, worked as a barista at the Royal Palm Hotel and Casino.
“It should be. I got it from the prince’s estate as part of our breakfast” Nick answered nonchalantly, dropping unconscious hints that he came from money. (He did not. Oscar does)
“Then, I am making you my Bonnie Hopps Specialty Cocoa and I am not going to hear a word against it! Wait right there!” Bonnie replied as she dashed inside the house, tossing out a similar grey and cream doe in a dark blue top that reminded Nick of his own ZPD uniform.
There were cackles of laughter from the rabbit does huddled on the far end of the porch. Some were calling out with “Now, you’ve done it!” and “You’ll go crazy when no other choc’let tastes the same!”
“Hi there!” the doe greeted the two officers as she locked eyes with the emerald-eyed predator in her dream job.
“Miss Judith Laverne Hopps, I presume?” Nick asked as his partner was somehow tongue-tied.
“Yeah! That’s me! Wait, why my full name? Am I in trouble?” the rabbit started out strong, before her shoulders slumped and the amethyst eyes dimmed.
“Don’t let the bunny eyes fool you, officer! She weaponised it to get what she wants” another rabbit doe cried out when Nick thought his resolve was going to crumble in the face of the watery amethysts.
“Aunt Marge! Come on! That’s not fair!” Judy snapped back at her aunt as Nick doubled down on his frown.
“Come on over, Officer Wilde. I have a few stories to tell about our resident escape artist. Pull up a chair and make yourself comfortable” the same rabbit doe who had inadvertently saved Nick, patted an empty space beside her.
“Grrk!” Judy pulled at her ears as Aunt Marge was known for embellishing her stories. If it got out into the wider town, Judy would forever be marked a scarlet bunny.
“I would love to do just that, Miss Marge. However, I am merely waiting for the return of either Mister Stuart Hopps or Missus Bonnie Hopps. It seems that Miss Hopps is doing well and we can close the file on her” Nick answered glibly, knowing from Oscar that rumours spread like wildfire in a rabbit burrow.
“Oh? Is little Judy’s file taller than she is? Because I would be surprised if it were thinner than my waistline. Margaret Hopps nee Vandergrift” the black-banded rabbit introduced herself to the officer.
“Any relation to Marine General Alexander Vandergrift?” Nick asked as he had gotten some military trivia from Oscar during his Special Operations training.
“My grandfather. First rabbit to be so highly decorated in an all-predator unit” the rabbit replied with a soft smile as she caressed her round belly. “Will you be around more often?” the rabbit asked.
“I do hope not, ma’am. But I do wish you great joy when the litter is born” Nick touched the brim of his peaked cap with his finger as a sort of salute.
“You must have prior service. No one else around these parts know why my last name is so significant” Margaret Hopps whispered to herself as she leaned back in the porch couch. The rabbit doe fanning herself a bit, despite the chill.
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“Dispatch, this is Baker Two Seven Zero. We are 10-8 and leaving the Hopps place. Got some jams and jellies to share back at the station” Nick radioed Ben as soon as he and Erick could climb back into the cruiser.
“Uh, Baker Two Seven Zero. Chief Badgerton says not to bring those jams back here. We found some in the cupboard” Officer Bryansk radioed from the Bunnyburrow location.
“Baker Two Seven Zero, this is Captain Torres of the State Troopers. Don’t bring those jams to Deerbrooke either. Try the Predburrow location” the captain of the local location of the Penn State troopers.
Nick looked at his partner and posed the question “What is wrong with these jams, and no one wants them?”
“I can’t really tell you. I’m confused myself” Erick answered as the little mason jars with their homemade labels looked enticing to eat on a slice of toast. Blackberry, strawberry, apple, orange, blueberry, raspberry, and grape.
“Baker Two Seven Zero, come back?” Nick heard Ben’s voice over the radio, and he claimed the microphone as he drove back to the main highway.
“Baker Two Seven Zero, Benjie. Go ahead” Nick replied to his classmate.
“Stop by the embassy and drop off the jams. The Lord Chamberlain is ….. intrigued” Ben replied, putting a lot more inflection on the last word in his sentence.
“Wilco, Ben. Making the turn now” Nick replied as he made a left turn at the intersection, returning to the access road to Hooferson Drive.
An access gate blocked anyone else wanting entry halfway to the manor house. There were two parked Humvees with US Marines outside the blocked portion of the access road. A small concrete blockhouse housed the rest of the marines inside the compound.
Every car that wanted entry was checked against a list. If you were not on it, unless it was the prince, then you best turn back now.
Oscar had called it overkill as he wanted tourists to see the changing of the Guard. The prince arguing that his best security hid in plain sight.
The federal government called it security to prevent any assassination attempts. Better to be safe than sorry.
Another satellite office needed to be built outside the compound as it was a hassle processing firearms applications when few mammals wanted to risk passing under the raised guns of the Humvees. Also, it was hard to enter the compound without your firearm being confiscated. Negating the reason why mammals came to renew in the first place.
That office stayed outside the blocked access road. Local armed police units stayed as protection as the staff were drawn from the local population.
The active farmlands on either side of Hooferson Drive were supposed to be bulldozed. Oscar had argued that it was the same as burning down the Amazon rainforest just to build a condominium complex extolling the virtue of trees.
In the end, the farmlands remained and the farmers felt safer as they harvested their crops. The Marines got their target practice in by taking out birds of prey threatening the farmers. An alarm system was tested periodically to give the farmers time to get to cover as the marines engaged the falcons or hawks.
Oscar had soon made it moot as the birds of prey congregated around him. The Soldier-Prince using them as added deterrent against infiltrators and the marines stopped targeting the birds. To keep their morale up, they frequently sparred with the Household Guards on planned exercises.
The marines only won one of the matches. The jubilant cheer and massive alcohol consumption by them made one think they had won the Second World War by themselves. The Household Guards took notes and roflstomped the marines at every opportunity thereafter.
Rendering themselves a cripple with only one arm, one eye, and one leg in the figurative fight.
And still won.
Nick knew none of that as he entered the same access road that he had departed from earlier. The fox officer winding down his window to show his I.D. to the marine at the gate under a dome camera. Sniffer wolves bent down to check if anyone attached IEDs to the SUV, inspecting the underchassis for stowaways.
“Good morning, Officer Wilde. Returning home for lunch?” the gate guard asked as it was too early for that activity. “This is just a formality. But do you have anything to declare?”
“Just some jams and jellies from the Hopps Family Farm, Corporal Haversham. The Lord Chamberlain wanted to see these” Nick answered the marine, as he slowly raised the jingling bag of mason jars into view of the camera and the marine.
“Okay. Come on through” Corporal Haversham waved the police cruiser into the secure compound.
“How the hell is it that simple?” Officer Wolverton asked as the wolverine had a different experience this morning.
“We live inside the compound, and we were vetted extensively by the FBI” Nick replied in a nonchalant manner as the cruiser arrived at the automatic gates of the manor house. The gates opened and the Guard at the gate went to the position of attention.
“Good morning, Officer Wilde. Are those the jars of destruction?” the wolf cheekily asked as Nick was at a loss who this was.
“I believe that the Lord Chamberlain wanted to see these jars for himself” Nick answered as the wolf waved him into the manor house’s driveway.
“Dispatch, this is Baker Two Seven Zero. Have arrived back at the manor with the mason jars. Entering the shaded overhang” Nick radioed Ben as he manoeuvred the car back to the main entrance.
An imposing black jackal stood at the entrance in his black dolman and black trousers. Nick gulped down his nerves as the jackal reminded him of the statues of Anubis that Oscar had in the upper penthouse of the Royal Palm Hotel.
“Copy that, Nick. Lord Thutmose should be waiting for you” Ben replied in his cheery voice.
“Good morning, Officers Wilde and Wolverton. Do you have something for me?” Lord Set Thutmose asked in a mellow voice that belied how intimidating he looked as he approached the SUV.
“Good morning, Lord Thutmose. I believe this bag is what you are after” Nick passed the canvas bag with the jars of jam and jelly over to the jackal.
“Yes, this is exactly what I am looking for. Please pass on my thanks to Missus Hopps. Will you be present for lunch or just dinner?” the jackal answered with concealed joy, asking if Nick would be home for the midday meal.
“Just dinner, Lord Thutmose. My shift does not end until 1600 hours” Nick answered the jackal who gave a slight bow as he departed.
“Ben, we are 10-8 again. Returning to Main Street for the walkaround” Nick radioed in as he drove the SUV back out of the open gates of the manor and back out the access road.
“Copy that, Nick. Lord Thutmose wants you to bring your partner back for lunch” Ben replied, and Nick got the impression that the cheetah’s tail was curled.
“No promises, Ben. Baker Two Seven Zero, out” Nick spoke again as the same marine waved them out.
The rest of the patrol was a breeze, and Nick was introduced to several of the local shopkeepers. A crochety old baker named Jacob Swarm begrudgingly sold the red fox officer a blueberry pie.
Which Nick shared with a pudgy red fox in suspenders.
=====
One Day Ago…
Checkpoint Bravo,
Bunnyburrow SEZ border with Pennsylvania
“So, Officer Wilde, how went the jams?” Erick asked his partner as they patrolled the border looking for mammals practicing subterfuge.
The two officers were on foot with the cruiser parked at the new checkpoint. One of several set up by the federal government and the prince’s estate to control the flow of mammals wanting to work in the new zone. There were two sets of Border Control agents at the checkpoint: one Animialian, the other British.
Or one who saw the humour and the other was a Nazi. Up to the mammal to figure out which was which.
“I don’t see the appeal” Nick answered as he focused on scanning the environment like Oscar had taught him.
Like his brother, Nick could identify mammals just from their silhouettes. In the snow-covered fields, mammals often stuck out like sore thumbs.
Unlike Oscar, Nick was also in tune with the planet’s EM fields. Burrowing mammals were visible to him as disturbances in the EM spectrum. Even beneath two metres of snow.
“That bad, huh?” Erick inquired as the two went out on their patrol pattern. The two predators forwent their bulky shell jackets for their normal woollen uniforms.
“The prince’s Lord Chamberlain referred to the jams as an, ahem, ‘Suitable laxative for the elderly mammal’. Apparently, whoever made the jams used sorbitol instead of normal sugar. Artificial sweeteners in any quantity has a laxative effect” Nick answered, the comments of the various offices now making a lot more sense.
“Ooh. Maybe that’s why the missus was keen on getting rid of the jams?” Erick postulated as the two continued their patrol.
“Wait” Nick held a paw up as something disturbed the EM field. “You feel that?”
“I don’t feel…I have it too” Erick ventured as he tapped into a skill long thought lost.
“Call it in” Nick replied as he crept closer to the snow, tilting his head this way and that as he geolocated the mammal.
“Dispatch, this is William Two. William One has a possible illegal near the border fencing at Checkpoint Bravo. How copy?” Erick called it in, turning down the radio to the lowest setting as the wolverine had an earpiece attached.
Erick was soon treated to a fox lunging into the snow. The hindquarters wiggling as his partner soon emerged with a family of field mice screaming about police brutality in his brown paws.
“Got a cage?” Nick as asked as the family tried escaping from the fox’s paws.
“Right here” Erick removed the cage all the border agents wore around their waist and opened the door for his partner to drop the family and their luggage inside.
“¡Hijo de puta! ¡Cuando te ponga las garras encima, desearás estar muerto! ¡Te convertiré en chorizo!” the possible patriarch, or mammal trafficker, threatened as the officers waited for Border Control to appear. [Motherf*cker! When I get my paws on you, you'll wish you were dead! I'll turn you into chorizo!]
“You understand that?” Erick asked Nick as the fox frowned at the language before coming up with a reply.
“¿Besas a tu madre con esa boca? Porque sé que no eres más que otro advenedizo con amenazas. ¿Vendrán los coyotes de la Sierra Madre por ti o eres un mensajero más?” Nick replied, silencing the field mouse. [You kiss your mother with that mouth? Because I know that you are just another upstart with threats. Will the Sierra Madre coyotes come for you or are you just another courier?]
“I didn’t know you could speak that” Erick answered as Border Control finally arrived on their ATVs.
“Another set of illegals? What’s that? The fourth this week?” the first Border Control agent, a coyote with the name plate of Vida, asked as he retrieved the cage from the wolverine.
“Don’t care. Toss ‘em in with the rest?” the other, a warthog, grunted out. The portly mammal not even getting off the ATV to look over the caged mammals. “Should have just shot the bastards. Less paperwork. What do you expect from a fox?” the warthog griped as he gunned the motor and sprayed snow as he took off with his apologetic partner in tow.
Nick wiped snow from his muzzle, a placid smile in place, as he had the small recording device in his uniform.
The entire interaction was streamed to Talon from start to finish.
=====
Same Day…
Auxiliary Guard Barracks,
Duke of Inverness Estate,
Royal European Diplomatic Mission,
Tri-Burrows SEZ
“Wilde, what is this interaction I got from the Border Patrol?” Major Friedkin asked the first red fox officer of the ZPD, waving a report stamped with the official letterhead of the Customs and Border Protection unit.
“Sir! At 0915 hours, this officer was on a set patrol pattern from Checkpoint Bravo with his partner, Officer Wolverton. During the patrol, this officer encountered a family of field mice attempting to sneak into the Tri-Burrows SEZ under the deep snow layer. This officer apprehended the family and Officer Wolverton placed them in a cage for holding. Approximately fifteen minutes later, and with the male field mouse still promising bodily harm on the officer, Agent Vida and unnamed warthog pulled up on ATVs. Unnamed warthog, hereafter known as John Porkchop, was not amused at the paperwork and suggested this officer should have just shot the bastards. Sir!” Nick barked out as he went to the position of attention, leaving his chair to do so.
Major Friedkin looked over at Captain Ibrahim. That interaction and the field mouse family were conspicuously missing from the warthog agent’s report.
“Wilde, do you have any evidence backing you up to prevent a ‘he-said, she-said’ argument?” Captain Ibrahim asked the tod.
“Yes sir. It has been uploaded to the secure server courtesy of Operator Talon” Nick replied, chilling the blood of the jackal.
Major Friedkin simply tilted her head in confusion.
“That will be all, Officer Wilde. Kindly wait outside” Captain Ibrahim dismissed the tod; holding up his left paw to prevent the police major from speaking up.
The captain only waited for the tod to exit and fully close the door. “Close that door fully, Officer Wilde. I should hear a click”.
With the aforementioned click, the anti-eavesdropping measures activated with a faint hum.
It had the untoward side-effect of giving Officer Wilde a minor headache.
“Major Friedkin. If what Officer Wilde is saying is true, then we need to involve His Royal Highness. That secure server belongs to him and access is rarely granted to outsiders. Normal channels will take months, and special channels will take weeks” Captain Ibrahim informed the police major.
“Is there no one with access to that server?” Major Friedkin asked as her gut said her cadet was telling the truth.
“We can ask either Major General Alan Shephard or FBI Director Amanda Frost” Captain Ibrahim replied as the jackal rubbed his forehead.
“Just those two? What’s wrong with asking Prince Oscar?” Major Friedkin asked, already forgetting that the prince was not to be summoned on trivial matters.
“Are you forgetting the chain of command, major? Because it would be like asking Chief Bogo to issue parking tickets” Captain Ibrahim answered the polar bear.
“So, what do we do?” Major Friedkin asked after wincing at the mental image of the cape buffalo in a parking enforcement uniform.
“Hope that the server will open to my access code. Come on. We have to do this in my office” Captain Ibrahim stood up and headed for the door.
=====
At the same time as the two senior officers were discussing the tod’s fate, Nick followed a white wolf towards the garden.
Follow being a generous term as there was a bag on the tod’s head and the white wolf was leading the other by holding the fox’s paw.
“Where are we going, Mark?” Nick asked for the umpteenth time.
“To meet with someone” Mark had answered cryptically. The same answer he had given the tod when he had led the tod away from the barracks.
“Okay, take it off” a familiar voice made Nick perk up as the burlap bag was removed from his head.
The sudden brightness made Nick blink as he saw where he was.
This was Greenhouse No. 4, home to the Carolina ghost peppers that his brother enjoyed so much.
Across from him was Oscar in arctic camouflage. On his brother’s back was a white AWP with telescopic sight.
“Nick, what’s this chatter I heard that you had an altercation with Border Agent Timothy Sando?” Oscar asked as he crossed his arms. “If you are curious on what I am wearing, I am supposedly in Norway with the Norwegian winter troops for Operation: King’s Landing. That is all I can share with you, given the lack of security clearance on your end”.
“Is that the warthog who suggested I put birdshot into a family of field mice?” Nick asked his brother, who checked his watch by removing the Velcro cover and redoing it.
“He said what?” Oscar asked as the frost on the glass began to melt. “Do you have proof?” Oscar asked as he stepped closer.
Nick raised his paws up to placate his brother. “I recorded the entire thing and sent it off to Talon. I already told Major Friedkin and Captain Ibrahim that I used a secure server from Operator Talon” Nick stated in his defence.
“You informed your senior officer and the evaluator that you have footage uploaded to Talon’s server?” Oscar rephrased the information that Nick shared and fired it back at him.
“Yeah?” Nick replied unsurely. The tod slowly lowering his arms from protecting his face.
“That makes things easier. Mark, give Nick an earpiece. Talon, Nick has temporary access to your servers here in the Special Economic Zone. Send me back. This is an internal matter, and I was just informed as a courtesy. Pip pip, cheerio!” Oscar replied as the prince vanished in a soft burst of white light.
Nick’s surprise turned to shock as the white wolf presented Nick with an earpiece that connected him with Talon. The white wolf pantomimed placing it in his ear. Nick did so, and then coughed from the cold air in the greenhouse.
“Good morning, Officer Wilde. Talon is online and access is provided. Your authorisation is as follows. Please memorise it and don’t write it down for operational security. Your code for access is the phonetic alphabet: Oscar Mike Alpha Hotel Alpha One Nine Four Four. Tap the earpiece twice to confirm receipt” Talon informed the prince’s brother over the quadruple encrypted channel. [OMAHA1944]
Nick tapped the earpiece twice as his mind memorised the code and accepted the trust his brother placed in him.
“Copy that, Talon. Do I say anything if I need access on the field?” Nick replied to the A.I. now just a button press away.
“Tap the earpiece three times. That lets me know to provide access in a passive manner. If you need aid, I can provide a commensurate response. If anyone else tries to use it, the lack of an access code will make the device remote detonate in their ear. Killing them” Talon replied. There was a pause before the A.I. continued in a laconic voice “A new earpiece will be provided”.
“How do I charge the earpiece?” Nick asked as he had never seen Oscar take it out.
“You don’t. There is a small lithium battery that provides a charge for three years before it needs replacing” Talon replied. “Go on off for mid-afternoon tea. Lord Thutmose has something for you to do”.
Nick departed from the greenhouse with Mark Coffrey. The white fae hound giddy at the thought of being assigned as close-in protection for the orange fox.
On his way back to the main manor house, Nick noticed that the manor seemed to be smaller than usual.
“Mark, how far away are we?” Nick asked the white wolf.
“Oops” Mark scratched the back of his head. “Guess I overdid the secrecy”.
The fae hound had been teleporting himself and the fox as the sky was overcast.
With a sigh, Nick put back on the burlap sack as the two moved quicker when Nick could not gauge distance.
=====
Six Hours Earlier…
Briefing Room,
Bunnyburrow Police Department,
Bunnyburrow,
Tri-Burrows SEZ
“Good morning, officers” Chief Badgerton greeted the assembled mammals as the badger emerged from the side corridor that led to his office.
“Good morning, chief” the officers greeted the badger as he nodded.
“Please be seated” the badger informed the room as the officers and troopers had a seat. The badger then showed eight folders to the sixty combined units inside. It was a tight squeeze for everyone.
“I have eight items I have to discuss today. First off, congratulations are in order to ZPD Officer Nicholas Wilde. Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) thank you personally for fixing a hole in their system. They are asking you and your partner to accompany them to 1407 Berry Lane in Deerbrooke County for a no-knock” Chief Badgerton placed the first folder, a blue one with the seals of the INS and Border Patrol on it, in front of the red fox. There were some hoots and hollering from the local departments.
“Second, I received some complaints of illegal logging in the Five Hundred Acre Wood. Deerbrooke Forestry Department needs some sniffers to supplement their muscle. Supervisor Pooh Bear will be on-site. Bring honey to placate him as the loggers woke him up from hibernation. There is some for sale outside on Rose Anne’s table” the badger spoke, ignoring Officer Wilde looking at the contents of the folder. Some of the officers winced when reminded of the brown bear’s honey addiction.
“Third, I need a welfare check on several elderly residents. Their families cannot make it and asked us to see what they need” Chief Badgerton held up four folders as the second folder went onto the desk of Officers Growley and Gordon (moose).
Officers Howlington and Rupert (albino rabbit), Grizzoli and Logan (beaver), Fangmeyer and Savage (orange striped rabbit), and Andersen-Andersen (reindeer) got the four folders for Julian Sward, Gregory Hopscotch, Emma Blue, and Richard Gray.
No one wanted the last one as he always caused trouble.
Richard Gray had retired here from New Reynard, a Vietnam-era combat veteran who suffered heavily from PTSD. No one had been able to get close enough to the elderly tod. Prey mammals from Bunnyburrow and Deerbrooke found themselves getting shot at and cursed out as “Goddamn Charlie! Eat lead, Charlie!” often rang out together with gunshots.
“Fourth and fifth items” the badger held up the last two folders in his paw. “I need some officers down at the annual charity Yuletide Bake Sale on the 22nd to the 27th. All proceeds will go into the Widows and Children’s Fund of the Tri-Burrows. Pursuant to that, some officers will be joining as contestants. We can’t let Mabel Porkton win by default with her sweet potato pie”.
“What’s wrong with Aunt Mabel’s pie?” Bruin Porkton asked as the pig always enjoyed it. Especially with whipped cream.
“How about the fact that it gave me food poisoning?” Patrol Sergeant Laura Duquesne retorted.
“Or that festivalgoers took one bite and discarded the rest in the biohazard bin?” an elk officer in yellow spoke up.
“Or that she does not wash the sweet potatoes thoroughly. I was weak for four days!” a brown hare in light blue spoke up.
Officer Porkton turned to his partner for assistance. “You liked the pie I brought from home, right? Officer Hughes?”
“Buddy, my tongue went numb after the first bite. I’m sorry. But I would rather eat puffer fish with its innards then do that again” Edward Hughes answered as his partner sulked in his seat.
“But all those pies I sent you?” Officer Porkton asked, aghast that the pies had been wasted.
“I used them in interrogation and would feed the pies to criminals to force a confession” Officer Hughes (roe buck) admitted as the buck would be retiring in four months.
“NOOOOOOOOO!!!!” Officer Porkton dramatically cried out to the heavens.
Nick and Erick made their silent exit as the drama prevented anyone else from following.
=====
“Yeesh! I’m glad that my Mabel’s cooking isn’t that bad” Erick admitted to Nick as it was the red fox’s turn to drive today.
There was talk of benching the probationary officer from Zootopia, until Chief Badgerton had pointed out that Agent Sando was not supposed to work because of a suspension order against him for speciesm and grave bodily harm against a red squirrel attorney from Califurnia.
Agent Sando was remanded into FBI custody and the warthog turned out to be a Sierra Madre informant. Highly complicit in the gang’s activities on the Eastern seaboard and the “family” that was intercepted were going to be put working on a heroin farm in Deerbrooke. The warthog could not run as Talon rerouted his emails to the FBI office under SAC Edwards. The kangaroo slapping the warthog with his tail when he tried to run.
“No, but Mabel’s cooking did give you the runs last time” Nick joked as he started the SUV and input the address for the INS field office in Deerbrooke.
“Well, she ain’t purrfect” the wolverine admitted as the two left the parking lot for the INS field office.
“No one is” Nick agreed and the two officers drove in comparative silence.
Silence that was briefly broken when Nick called in. “Dispatch, this is Baker Two Seven Zero. We are 10-8 and enroute to INS”.
“Copy that, Baker Two Seven Zero. This is Kim. Ben was moved to the PM shift” a female voice came over the radio, identifying herself as Kim and saying where Ben had gone.
“Good to see you make dispatch, Kim. It’s been what? Five years?” Erick snatched the microphone and talked to the mammal on the other end.
“Six and a half. Go hustle some grannies and leave the professionals to work” came the dry reply over the airwaves as Erick chuckled.
“Still sore about that Mario Kart loss, sis?” Erick needled the mammal. “Blue shell, much?”
“Knock it off the two of you! Find your own line” the calm voice of Chief Badgerton came over the airwaves and the chatter died out.
“Sorry sir!” Kim apologised. “Sorry, chief” so did Erick.
“Humph. It’s like watching over a bunch of middle-schoolers” the chief commented as the line went silent once more.
Nick and his partner arrived at the INS office in Deerbrooke with minutes to spare. The fox found parking immediately and disembarked from the cruiser.
“Dispatch, have arrived at the INS field office as per their instructions. Going in now” Nick radioed to HQ.
“Dispatch copies your last, Baker Two Seven Zero” was the laconic reply from the dispatcher as Nick rolled his eyes. Benny’s transmissions were livelier and had some extra messages.
Nick opened the door outward, letting his partner in before he did.
“Good morning, uh, Diane King. Officers Nick Wilde and Erick Wolverton here to meet up with Special Agent Theodore Grizzoli” Nick read the name of the receptionist from the brass plaque on her desk.
“Badge?” the weasel at the front desk boredly asked as she filed her claws with an emery board. Nick and Erick tapped their chests with the brass badges, drawing attention to themselves in the empty lobby.
“You boys can wait in the lounge. Agent Grizzoli is in a meeting. Help yourselves to the coffee and pastries” the weasel gestured to a glass door with Employee Lounge clearly written on it.
“Thanks. Around what time can we see him?” Nick tipped his hat at the weasel, who just rolled her eyes at how hokey the country folk got.
“I’ll send him over when his meeting is done. Immigration? Please hold” the weasel answered in a bored tone as the phone rang and she picked it up with the line she had been saying over and over since the two had arrived.
Nick looked down at the wolverine and shrugged. If they were being told to wait, they had to wait. Hopefully, the pastries were good.
“Dispatch, this is Baker Two Seven Zero. We are in a holding pattern. How copy, over?” Nick radioed HQ with their status.
“Baker Two Seven Zero, Dispatch. Nothing we can do” Kim replied in an exasperated manner.
Nick and Erick entered the employee lounge and were met by the tantalising aroma of hot cinnamon rolls on a platter in the centre of a conference table.
Automated beverage and snack machines lined the walls. None of them took bills or change. Just a press of the button would dispense the product.
“Nick! I died and went to fastfood heaven! Quick, slap me!” Erick bounced over to the coffee machine, not waiting for his junior partner. The wolverine pressing a button, and a cup dropped down. Another button press filled the cup with hot coffee. The plastic cover opened, and the cup was ready to drink from.
Nick slyly went over, subtly tapping the earpiece three times.
“Say, what do we have here? Vendo coffee? For shame! There’s a perfectly good drip coffee on the side” Nick sidled up to the wolverine enjoying the glorified 3-in-1 and poured himself a cup of the Italian-roast coffee into a porcelain mug. The fox stirring in cream and sugar from the containers.
To not cause a mess, Nick also put down paper plates on one of the tables. Nick got a cinnamon roll and a glazed doughnut. Erick had a cheese croissant, cheesy bagel, and a strawberry glazed doughnut.
“Oh my gosh, it’s still warm” Nick muttered as the sweet, sticky bun tasted divine to a mammal on a restricted budget. Nick had not been able to spend his daily stipend as he brought sandwiches from the manor. When he did manage to spend it, it went to necessities as the barracks room only had the cheapest toiletries. Some went into a savings account as Nick wanted to have some money in case of unpredictable expenses.
Nick already forgot that his insurance plan came from his brother’s company. It was the same as the insurance package provided to Fortune 500 CEOs.
“Mmmhmm” Erick mumbled as the wolverine munched on his cheesy goodness. Alternating each bite with sips of the coffee.
The two police officers cooling their heels until Agent Grizzoli finished his meeting two hours later. The wolf came down and was surprised to see them.
“Good morning, officers. Can I help you with something?” Agent Grizzoli, a tan wolf, asked the two members of the local PD when the wolf entered the lounge to grab a bite.
“Actually, yes” Nick answered for his slower partner as the wolverine had eaten himself into a stupor. “What time were we going with you to serve the no-knock warrant? Chief Badgerton only said that we are to make our way here and coordinate with you guys”.
Nick had listened to Talon as the A.I. informed him that the warrant would no longer be served as R.I.S came in and apprehended everyone involved.
“Ah, yeah. Looks like we forgot to send the updated message out. The Royal Intelligence Service stormed the place earlier at two-thirty in the morning. They got everyone involved and will hand over a few notables after they are done with their interrogations” Agent Theodore Grizzoli scratched his head between his triangular ears. The wolf embarrassed that the other agencies were informed, but not the local PD.
“Well, I will just have to inform Chief Badgerton that we got here on time and had to wait, because the case had been sent higher up the chain for deliberations. Due to manners of secrecy, the message was not passed along in case there are mammals listening with police scanners” Nick informed the wolf as he held his paw out to shake.
Agent Grizzoli took the fox’s paw and shook it. That was a better reason than saying they simply forgot to pass the message. The blame was placed at the paws of the higher-ups as it was worded vaguely enough to include the director.
Nick smirked as the wolf sighed out in relief. Those were the words Talon had told him to say as it sounded better to the listener that they were not simply overlooked. It was just sent to someone of a higher paygrade and security clearance.
“I’m guessing you guys want lunch? There’s this diner just around the corner that serves this fluffy cornbread with greasy chicken sausage and gravy” the tan wolf offered.
“We’ll pass. Have to get back anyway. Thanks for coming down, Agent Grizzoli” Nick graciously waved the offer away. “Come on, Erick. You can sleep in the car” Nick pulled the wolverine from the chair as the wolf watched.
“We good? Mutter hat keinen Drückeberger großgezogen. Ich kann immer noch stehen” the wolverine muttered, slipping into his mother tongue as he was shuffled out from the lounge towards the cruiser parked outside in the sun. [Mother didn't raise a slacker. I can still stand]
Nick, with some assistance from Agent Grizzoli, managed to buckle the moving molasses of a wolverine into the front passenger seat.
“Thanks again, Agent Grizzoli” Nick informed the wolf as the red fox slid into the driver’s seat, pulling the armoured door shut behind him.
“Hey, if you’re ever ‘round these parts again, come say hi? Also, since you’re ZPD, have you seen my brother?” Agent Grizzoli stuck his head inside the open window of the cruiser and made small talk as Nick started the engine.
“Sure, thing. Is your brother’s name Ivan Grizzoli?” Nick agreed and asked if his classmate was indeed this one’s brother.
“Yup, that’s him. Come by when you have more time, and I’ll share some embarrassing tales over a beer. Take care, Officer Wilde” the tan wolf nodded as he backed out of the window so Nick could reverse out of the parking slot, tapping the roof of the cruiser to let the fox know that the wolf was clear.
“Dispatch, this is Baker Two Seven Zero. INS was a bust. Sector 86 got it. Headed home now” Nick informed Dispatch on the car’s radio, the fox officer following the signs to exit Deerbrooke and return to Bunnyburrow.
“Baker Two Seven Zero, I have a 10-29 fox for a Brian Jumper. Wanted on a felony charge in Grand Rapids and skipped town before his hearing. Last listed address is 756 Alfalfa Road, Bunnyburrow. Suspect is considered armed and dagnerous” Kimberly Wolverton’s dry voice came over the radio.
“Baker Two Seven Zero, copies. We are Code Three” Nick replied as he tapped two buttons on the console, initiating the lights and sirens.
WAU! WAU! WAU! WAU! WAU! WAU! WAU! WAU! WAU! WAU! WAU! WAU! WAU!
Nick made good time back to Bunnyburrow. The siren clearing the non-existent traffic and allowed Nick to really floor the accelerator pedal.
Talon was providing helpful information about Brian Jumper.
The hare had grown up without parents, left in the care of his paternal grandparents and had fallen in with the wrong crowd. The hare had been caught twice with possession of an illegal firearm but was only sent to juvie. Being a minor at that time.
The hare had won the Powerball Mega-Millions lotto a year or so back. Within six months, fifty million of the sixty-five-million-dollar jackpot had been spent on hookers, drugs, and expensive toys. During a drug-fuelled rampage, the hare had committed vehicular mammalslaughter by driving his 1998 Ferrari F355 GTS into a parade for FIV/AIDS victims in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The hare had posted bail set at $ 100k and promised to stay for sentencing.
He had not and skipped town.
The FBI had now added a BOLO for the hare and a $ 40,000 reward for capture was being floated. Suspicion that the hare was hiding out in Bunnyburrow increased when a corn yellow hare with a bad fur job showed up at the Bunnyburrow Co-Op to exchange fake dollar bills. Upon questioning, the female hare said she got the bills as payment for services of a sexual nature from a hare that was correctly identified as being Brian Jumper.
“Dispatch, I’ll need back-up at that location. I don’t have any extra firepower on me if he is inside the property” Nick radioed his dispatcher.
“Bravo Two Seven Zero, it’ll be fine. Stop worrying” was the unconcerned reply from Kim Wolverton. The wolverine seemingly not grasping the situation.
“Talon, I don’t know if you can hear me. Can you send an alert to Fisc Delgato’s phone or anyone else who might be nearby? I have a bad feeling about this” Nick spoke up in the car as his partner continued to snooze.
Two short tones in his left ear confirmed receipt of the message. Talon would listen in and send aid as necessary.
Nick simply hoped it would arrive in time.
=====
756 Alfalfa Road,
Jumper Residence,
Bunnyburrow
Nick brought the cruiser to a halt. The siren had been cut off when he arrived with his now awake partner.
“We’re going to serve a warrant, Erick. You want the vest in the trunk?” Nick asked the wolverine who simply shook his head in response.
“Naw, hares are pushovers. Firearms are expensive here and I’ve not met a hare that won’t turn tail and run” Erick brushed off his junior’s concern.
“Still, it would make me breathe easier if you got the vest. No one will miss another fox” Nick cracked some dark humour at the end.
“Fine, if you insist. Pop the trunk” Erick Wolverton opened the passenger door and made his way to the rear of the car to put on his bulletproof vest with the words POLICE stencilled in white on the front.
“Talon, I am getting out of the car. If things go south, please don’t tell Oscar” Nick spoke to the A.I. in his ear as he reached for the car’s microphone to inform dispatch.
“Dispatch, Baker Two Seven Zero. Have arrived at Jumper residence and about to serve warrant to occupant” Nick informed the radio dispatcher.
“Copy that, Baker Two Seven Zero” came the bored reply. Nick fought the urge to roll his eyes. Since he had met Benji, then the title of worst dispatcher would go to Kimberly Wolverton.
“Okay, I’m good” Officer Erick Wolverton advanced ahead of the red fox, clad in his bulletproof vest and with service pistol in paw. Nick kept his own at low guard, covering his partner’s rear.
The wolverine thudded on the door with his paw. “Anyone home? I got a warrant here for Mister Brian Jumper!”
The wolverine continued to pound on the door before it opened with a creak and a crazed looking hare stuck her head out.
“Whaddya want? I’m doin’ me nails!” the hare shouted at the wolverine.
“I got an arrest warrant for…” Erick managed to get out before the door slammed shut on his face. As the wolverine rubbed his nose, Nick heard a ch-chak sound of a shotgun and reached forward to grab his partner out of the way.
“BRIAN! THE PIGS ARE HERE!” came the feminine shriek and then Nick was in a world of pain as he was blasted backwards by a shotgun blast through the door.
Erick slumped backwards onto the snow. The wolverine missing part of his head.
With ears ringing, Nick raised his pistol and fired back. Peppering the door with 9mm rounds.
“Dispatch, 10-00. Officer DOWN! OFFICER DOWN. 756 ALFALFA ROAD!” Nick yelled out as he kept firing back.
“TALON, I NEED SOME HELP DOWN HERE!” Nick continued to yell as he tried to centre his rounds on target.
Nick did not hear the reply nor a siren as a cruiser pulled up. Its occupants firing back at the earthen burrow. Time seemed to slow for Nick as another loud boom rocked his world and his vision darkened.
Nick woke to someone dragging him away. A dark blue sleeve which terminated around a tawny-coated wrist.
“WORLD! WORLD!” the mammal seemed to be shouting at him as Nick’s vision swam with pain.
As if being slapped with a cold fish, clarity came rushing back in.
“WILDE, YOU OKAY?” Fisc’s mane gave him away as he yelled at Nick.
“I HEAR BELLS!” Nick shouted back as he was safely behind the runflat tire of Delgato’s cruiser. He tried sitting up, only for his torso to flare with pain and Nick lay back down.
“Dispatch, this is Delgato! Wilde is okay! Requesting backup at 756 Alfalfa Road. I need air support!” Fisc yelled into his radio microphone as shots thunked into the solid armour plates of the cruiser.
“Delgato, this is Overlord. Get small. JDAM inbound” a different voice came out of the radio as a streak of light impacted the burrow, flinging dirt and ice everywhere. Another streak rocketed down and
Silence reigned for all of two minutes before the two ZPD officers looked skyward at a circling drone. The drone waggled its wings and departed.
“Who’s writing the report on this one?” Fisc breathed out as an orange and white medevac helicopter arrived with gunship support.
“Hopefully, not me” Nick murmured as he knew he would be the one visiting Erick’s wife.
=====
Present Day…
54th Drone Attack Wing,
Carson AFB,
Joint Base Red Rock,
Deerbrooke,
Bunnyburrow SEZ
“Clean up that signal” USAF Colonel Abrams ordered his drone operator as they focused on the IR strobe embedded inside each ZPD officer’s badge as they worked in the Tri-Burrows. A contingency that His Royal Highness had insisted on as backup could be an hour away with how spread out the farms were.
Colonel Derek Abrams wondered how no one even thought of that before.
“Yes sir. Going for 200” the airmammal on the keyboard tapped out a set of commands and took direct control of the orbiting MQ-3 Global Hawk.
“Sir! Chatter from local PD!” a radio operator called out as they covered the microphone with a paw.
“Bring it up” the colonel nodded at the senior airmammal, who did so.
“Dispatch! We have shots fired! Wilde and Wolverton are down. I say again, we are down. 756 Alfalfa Road” was the half-panicked call from the prince’s half-brother.
“Where is that?” Colonel Abrams asked as the drone camera zoomed in on a squat grassy knoll with bursts of white on the thermal imager.
There were two blinking strobes visible on the IR feed. One was not moving, the other was attempting to crawl backwards and continue shooting.
Another cruiser appeared and two more blinking strobes exited from the front passenger door.
“Dispatch. Delgato and Skipps are on-site. Wilde and Wolverton are pinned. Drawing fire!” an officer called out as the two figures fired back at the burrow. Hot impacts from the burrow struck the glass and body of the cruiser nearest it.
Thankfully, there was no penetration.
“Dispatch, where’s my backup?” the officer called out over the snaps and hisses.
“Standby, Officer Delgato. Routing several assets to you now” the dispatcher replied, seemingly unconcerned.
“Get me Overlord on the horn. Tell him we have an imminent threat” Colonel Abrams informed the lieutenant in the room as the operator quickly got a message out to the Pentagon controller.
“Sir, I have Overlord up on GRN Sat” the lieutenant, a fox, called out. [Green Sat]
“Abrams, what do you need?” Overlord asked over their secure line.
“Sir, I have four officers heavily engaged at the Bunnyburrow SEZ. Request weapons package unlock” Colonel Abrams informed the general on the other end.
“Who do you have on the IR and GPS feeds?” Overlord asked as there were only three names on Animalian soil in that location that merited a rapid response. The president, the vice-president, and the prince.
“I have Officers Wilde, (Delgato, Wolverton, and Skipps according to the data the drone is feeding me, sir)” Colonel Abrams replied.
“Did you say Wilde?” Overlord asked, interrupting the rest of the transmission.
“Yes sir. An Officer N.P. Wilde” Colonel Abrams replied as the drone sent the information pings from the badge.
“Colonel, you are cleared for immediate airstrike. I want that target dead and smoking. Got it?” Overlord gave the clearance, making all the drone operators in the room look up at their boss with wide eyes.
A civilian who was not the president being given a strike package clearance?
“Dispatch, this is Delgato! Wilde is okay! Requesting backup at 756 Alfalfa Road. I need air support!” the officer called for additional aid as he had pulled the one with badge of Wilde, N.P. towards the safety of the cruiser.
“Delgato, this is Overlord. Get small. JDAM inbound” Colonel Abrams heard the transmission over the CB network that the officers were using and nodded at his drone operator to drop the ordnance package on the location.
The colonel and the operator watched as the burrow was demolished. Ice and dirt were sent rocketing skyward.
“Overlord, target hit with JDAM. Target destroyed” Colonel Abrams informed his boss in the Pentagon.
“Outstanding. Waggle the wings of the drone and return to your regular duties” Overlord replied. “I got a medevac helicopter dispatched to pick up the wounded. It should be there in a bit”.
“Yes sir. Medevac identified as Hotel November Six” Colonel Abrams commented from the drone feed. [UH-1N]
“Good job, people. I will let His Royal Highness know. Overlord, out” Overlord informed the drone operators as he cut the connection.
“Hoo-boy, sir. Think HRH Windsor will be happy?” the mule deer asked his boss.
“If he isn’t, that means he wanted to go in himself” Colonel Abrams replied to the senior airmammal. “I’ll take care of the incident report, airmam” the colonel continued as he walked off to a table to start filling up the report.
“Thanks, sir” the airmam replied.
The drone feed caught the wounded being airlifted out of the hot zone as more vehicles came on scene with their flashing lights on.
=====
Officer’s Suite # 1,
Infirmary,
Carson AFB,
Joint Base Red Rock Canyon,
Nicholas Wilde
“Hey doc. Long time no see” Nick joked with the base physician, currently looking at his X-rays.
Nick was resting on the bed. The officer’s ruined uniform top on another chair inside a sealed plastic bag. A pressure bandage had been wound around the officer’s torso. Several black discs were visible inside the torn uniform.
A replacement ZPD uniform top had arrived courtesy of the wolf prince’s tailoring suite. This was on a collapsible clothing rack.
“Had I known that you are as careless as your half-brother, I would have recommended you be on desk duty” the physician, a golden-yellow rabbit doe, muttered as she circled the hairline cracks in the fox’s ribs with her pen.
Louder, she spoke up “Officer Wilde, I recommend you see a counsellor or a psychiatrist. I am neither and I am worried that the shooting has left an imprint on your psyche”.
When Nick tried to speak up, the rabbit held up her paw “I’m not finished. Officer Wilde, you do not seem like the type of mammal to get in firefights for the fun of it”.
The “unlike your/my brother” was left unsaid by both mammals.
“So, I highly recommend that you see a counsellor and I have no choice but to bench you. No more high-profile shoot-outs, okay?” the rabbit informed the red fox. “I’m going to write you a script for Percocet and Sergeant Dullahan will fill this for you at the base dispensary”.
“Doc, I feel fine. I don’t need any pain meds!” Nick protested as he did not like taking Percocet. Opiates did in many a mammal in Tundra.
“When the anaesthesia wears off, and believe me it will, you will feel all the bruises and cracked ribs. Do you have anywhere to stay in the Burrows while you heal?” the doctor talked over her patient. Long used to soldiers complaining that their compound fractured arm just needed to be set in a sling and they would call it a day.
“The REDM” Nick muttered, knowing that the rabbit heard it.
With a sigh of relief, the rabbit tore up the script for Percocet. If the fox was one of theirs, it was better for him not to be doped up with opioids. She had learnt her lesson the last time a Guardsmammal needed an emergency appendectomy and was placed on opioids. Her ears still rang with recorded pain as she thought about the reprimands she got from her chain of command.
“Are you religious by any chance, Officer Wilde?” the rabbit asked instead as she placed the torn-up script in the paper shredder.
“Just enough, doc. Why?” Nick replied as he closed his eyes. Tears formed as his adrenaline finally crashed and he felt lucky to be alive in his standard uniform top. He was not even wearing a vest.
“Because whoever switched out your uniform and undershirt used the same armour plates found in executive protection suits. Those plates saved your life by stopping the slugs from punching through your body” the doctor explained as she stood up from the desk and turned off her reading lamp.
“Rest first. I’ll send a message to the Diplomatic Mission to come and claim you” the rabbit informed her patient as she exited the darkened room lit only by the soft accent lights.
The rabbit felt her way out of the room, placing her paw on the door latch to open the door and left.
Outside, the rabbit let out a breath as she shook her head.
She wanted a smoke, but she needed to call up the embassy to come for their undercover officer.
The rabbit paused to look outside at the other police officers in their blue, green, and yellow uniforms. Shaking her head even more at the other officer who was dead long before his body hit the snow, the rabbit entered her office to make the phone call.
Approaching the phone on her desk, the rabbit doe lifted it and placed it against her ear to listen for a dial tone. Finding one, the rabbit dialled a familiar number and listened to it ring. The line was picked up after two rings.
“Good afternoon, Royal European Diplomatic Mission. How may I direct your call?” the male voice on the other end almost made the rabbit tear up.
“Good afternoon, this is Doctor Sarah Skipps. I have an Officer Nicholas Wilde here at Carson AFB. I was wondering…” Doctor Skipps spoke into the phone before she was interrupted.
“Do not give him opioids of any kind. We are sending a transport for him. Kindly keep him there for fifteen minutes. Thank you for bringing Officer Wilde’s plight to our attention” the warm, male voice replaced with someone else. The voice sounded sinister, and the physician gulped as it was the Lord Chamberlain himself on the line.
The jackal’s voice always sounded like a serial killer’s over the phone. It unnerved her every time.
The rabbit did not know when she managed to stop shaking in her office nor when did a member of the House Guard arrive to take custody of her patient. The rabbit still listening to a busy tone.
=====
2100 Hours (1500 Hours Bunnyburrow)
Command Quarters,
Aurlandsfjord,
Aurlandsvangen,
Bergen, Norway
HRH Prince Oscar Windsor-Oldenburg
Prince Oscar was chatting with members of the Royal Norwegian Army command on exercise. The royal had enjoyed tagging, and being tagged by, servicemembers of the 15th Infantry Regiment in a rousing game of MILES in the largest NATO winter military exercise to date.
The exercise spanned from the Narvik until the village of Mundal. A simulated naval and airborne invasion that had been dubbed Operation: Thunderclap had the prince acting the part of OPFOR pathfinders to test readiness and strength of the various Norwegian military units.
All the OPFOR pathfinders in the prince’s unit had been found and captured. That left the prince himself, and with a deadline of only six hours before Oscar linked up with the armoured reinforcements rushing through the border; meant that the Army and its NATO allies had to hustle.
The NATO participants almost lost the exercise until Oscar received a telephone call over an unsecured mobile device and his location was triangulated by SIGINT.
Like true Spetsnaz, Oscar called in a howitzer strike on his position. Killing himself and his pursuers in the process.
The plateau that Oscar was using as an OP, bracketed by smoke shells to simulate real artillery strikes.
Presently, Oscar was sharing with Army High Command the holes in their strategy and how he managed to bypass several cordons to reach his vantage point above the naval anchorage. The prince circling the locations that were dismissed as too rugged and ignored by ground troops.
“Deres Høyhet, FLASH-melding fra eiendommen din i Zootopia!” a communications officer called out, drawing the prince’s attention to her. [Your Highness, FLASH message from your estate in Zootopia!]
“Gi den her, Astrid. Hva handler det om?” Oscar asked as he crossed the room over to the forest cat. [Give it here, Astrid. What is it about?]
“Her, Deres Høyhet” the sergeant passed the FLASH message print-out that had arrived. [Here, Your Highness]
Oscar read the gibberish message, breaking the cipher mentally. It read: Your brother injured in shoot-out STOP Needs time away from Bunnyburrow STOP Suggest Christmas at home STOP His partner died FULL STOP.
Oscar crumpled the message in his paw, startling the sergeant.
“Astrid, gå bort fra datamaskinen. Jeg sender min egen melding tilbake” Oscar gently ordered the forest cat to leave her post as he took her place. [Astrid, step away from the computer. I will send my own message back]
Oscar disabled the triple-encryption with his access code and began typing a similar gibberish message in reply. Talon would be able to decipher the message as the A.I. had the same key that Oscar had in his head.
His reply simply read: Received FULL STOP.
Oscar then returned the triple-encryption on the communications terminal to restore it to its normal function. No one else could do such a thing in the field as Oscar had everyone’s codes memorised from his first pass-through in Zootopia.
“Deres Majestet, jeg må be om tillatelse til å forlate øvelsen tidlig. Halvbroren min har blitt skadet og trenger hjelp” Oscar moved to the table where the Norwegian king was seated observing the proceedings and spoke to him in a low voice. [Your Majesty, I must ask for permission to leave the exercise early. My half-brother has been injured and requires aid]
“How badly, Oscar?” King Harald asked in English, as the fox monarch sipped at his tea.
“Had I not placed armour plates in his uniform, I would be an only child” Oscar replied in the same soft tone.
“Go. Do not come back until your brother is ready to return to his service. I will inform your grandmother and release you from your annual obligations. Family is all we have left at the end, after all” King Harald V dismissed his nephew.
HRH Prince Oscar bowed deeply to his uncle and left the room.
The king prevented anyone from contesting his nephew’s departure by saying it was a family matter.
“Talon, I authorise you to use any and all means to keep Nick safe until I can return to the Bunnyburrow manor” Oscar spoke into his earpiece as he made his way to the helipad where one of the Quadjets rested.
The RAAF flight crew went to attention when Oscar approached them.
“Is the exercise cancelled, Your Highness?” Captain Oscar Winslow asked his namesake.
“No, gentlemammals. I am headed to Oslo airport to board my plane and return home with due haste. A family matter has reared its ugly head, and I am needed” Oscar answered as only the captain was in on the secret that Oscar had a faster method of transport than simply using his modified plane to fly home.
“Then we will bring you to Oslo. Simple as that” Captain Winslow answered, stopping his flight crew from protesting as the wallaby walked into the open ramp of the aircraft and began warming up the engines. The flight crew, mostly composed of marsupials followed the captain into the aircraft to begin the pre-flight checks.
“Talon, you are go for immediate transport. Flash me out of here” Oscar spoke as his breath did not form frost.
The weather cooperated and a sudden snow squall covered the white flash as HRH Prince Oscar vanished.
