Sunderance Act 2 - Chapter 06 - Pages 07-14

Normally upon entering the Canopy, shadows were the first thing any mammal noticed. The deep, dark shadows of giant trees that jealously blocked out the light of both sun and moon save for the few brilliant beams that made life possible on the lower levels of the forest. At least when that forest was natural. This lush greenery was spotted with signs of civilization: rope bridges, sky trams, buildings that had been built into the massive trunks and among the thick lower branches. These were where most of the mammals adapted to this environment lived their lives, but just as many buildings were built on the ground between the branches. During the daylight hours land locked mammals of all sorts would go about their daily business in those deep shadows.

Fangmeyer knew that what she should have seen at this time of night upon entering the Canopy were fairly lights, streetlamps, glowing windows, and darkness between. What she saw was a blindingly bright orange glow that had only been hinted at as the patrol car headed into the mouth of the tunnel. One of the larger trees was ablaze in that glow. Or at least the closely bunched string of buildings in the lower branches of the tree were, flame spilling from every open window and trying desperately to climb through the upper branches to find something else to consume.

It was a desperate search for fuel that only failed because of the constant fall of rain on the already misted and wet forest.

“What the hell?” Wolfard marveled, leaning forward to get a better view of the spectacle through the windshield. “Are we sure he did this? This seems a little excessive, even for...”

His words were cut off and both officers covered raised a paw to shield their eyes when one of the modernized huts that the fire had seemed determined to spare exploded brilliantly.

“Is the Chief sure he wants us to just keep, you know,” Wolfard said with a circling wave of his paw, “Ignoring this? Cleaning it up? Does he know something we don’t know?”

“I think we can both be sure that he does,” the tigress replied as she brought the cruiser to a stop, her eyes half on the tree as she unfasted her seat belt and popped the door. “Clear the civilians, remember?”

“Yeah, yeah,” the wolf grumbled as he opened his own door. Both stepped out at the same moment with their tranq guns drawn just in case.

They had hardly cleared the vehicle when the shattering of a window had both raising their weapons, only to watch stunned as a jaguar fell from one of the upper levels. The reflexes of a feline saved the male, who managed to land on all fours at the water’s edge with a yowl. Wolfard still winced at the muffled, almost wooden snap that came on impact, loud enough to be heard even over the pained primal shriek that escaped. But that lasted only a moment before a blur of motion dropped onto the back of the male, driving him muzzle first into the damp, mossy earth.

Then the flash of the cruiser’s red and blues reflected of the surface of a long, straight blade before it vanished into the back of the jaguar’s neck.

Even as the male was silenced, the wolf cursed and raised his sidearm. As a cop, orders or not, seeing the life of a mammal so ruthlessly ended forced him to react. Running on a surge of adrenaline and training, he fired a tranquilizer dart at the shape. A dart that missed when the figure simply ducked, putting no more effort into it than he had put into ending the life of the feline. Before Wolfard could fire again, Fangmeyer’s paw came down on his wrist to force him to lower the weapon.

“Wha...?” he began, only to stop when he noticed what the tigress was looking at: the fox in the dark suit, standing on the same water’s edge and watching impassively as the rabbit, who didn’t seem inclined to retaliate, stepped lightly off the body of the jaguar, sheathing his blade. Wolfard stared at the small mammal, his ears perked as high as they could possibly go on his spinning head. “Is that at bunny?”

“A hare, I think,” Nick replied as he walked towards the two officers with a deceptive air of leisure. It was obvious that he had been involved in the destruction of the tree buildings. His suit was scorched, his neck ruff and collar stained with ash, and his cheek lightly scored by what might have been the claws of the now-dead feline. “I’m not entirely sure, but certainly not one of the bunnies from the Burrow. Too spooky, not enough fluff. Either way, he’s with me.”

Fangmeyer stared at the fox for a long moment, seeming to completely forget that there was a tree on fire and a killer standing a few yards away. Aside from the fox, that was.

“That’s the most I’ve heard you say in years.”

“I’m not exactly trying to be quiet anymore,” Nick replied, looking up at her, green eyes glinting in the reflected firelight. He motioned with one paw to a duo who stood a block away, obviously trying to keep their distance. Even from that distance, though, it was impossible not to recognize the white of the reporter, Harridan, or that her companion was holding a camera of the type used by field reporters. “Your orders? Not to stop me, or there would be more of you. It’s not like the city doesn’t know where we are.”

“Keep you from hurting civilians, causing too much damage.” She paused and glanced up at the rabbit with the cool blue eyes. “Not that we’ve had much to do. You and your… friend have been careful, burning trees and exploding warehouses aside. But Bogo can’t keep ignoring this forever. People already know who you are and what brought you to the surface in Zootopia. They’ll want answers. Body counts always demand answers.”

“Watch the news tomorrow morning,” Jack replied, causing Wolfard to nearly jump out of his fur at the suddenness of the broken silence from that end, even if the voice was no more raised than Nick’s. He said nothing else, however, which had the wolf frowning.

“Spooky is right,” he muttered, looking down at the paw that Fangmeyer still had on his wrist. He flashed her a toothy grin, which made her release him hastily. They both holstered their tranqs as he continued, “It’s obvious who you’re targeting, and I’m not losing any sleep over it. I’m pretty sure every long-haul detective, Lieutenant, and beat cop whose been unable to touch these groups have been demanding action against you at a quiet whisper. All while quietly throwing parties and handing you awards in their heads."

I know, we promised an update within a week of the last update on Patreon. But Rick had a hard time with the pages, and the heat, and more heat. But here they are! It's still a big update and I hope you all enjoy it. We will strive to ensure that the update are quicker from now on.

Please do donate if you are able, since this remains a free to view project and the artist needs to not starve. :)

See you next update,

Kulkum

Ugh, this update took way to long to make, and really should not have. I'm a little overwhelmed with projects, I need to change that around and find a little more focus. I hope everyone is doing well, thanks for supporting the comic people.

Sorry for the wait,

Rick

Story by kulkum

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