Wilde Card (Zootopia Original Story)

7: Operation: Bugs Bunny

Song: Dirty Little Animals, Bones UK

Red Spike had seen the video of Lionheart while sitting in the bunker in Ficus Grove. "Well?" Bethany asked, her teeth grinding together. "They took it down within the hour. We didn't get more than about three hundred views and people aren't really watched the reposted videos."

"No, but people have started talking: They're questioning Lionheart. And for now, that's all we need," the Red Deer replied. "Besides, they're probably sharing the screen recordings to their friends privately. It doesn't need to be on EweTube for it to work now." He looked over at Matthew who was, once again, leaning back casually in his chair. "Have you seen the lion and the fox: Found their bunker, at least?"

Matthew sat bolt upright. "Uh, no, Spike... sorry."

He took a deep and steady breath. "Okay. We still have the rabbits, and as much as it pains me to involve a fellow herbivore, Benjamin Courir is our next option."

"Are we sure this is a good idea?" Jasmine asked, blinking her long eyelashes. "He is a child."

"Don't you think that if this lazy hare had succeeded in finding Wilde and Lionheart's pesky kids I'd have to do this? No! But here we are. It's time to enforce Plan B. Operation: Bugs Bunny."

Operation: Bugs Bunny was intended to be a simple operation, one that wouldn't traumatise a 9-year-old too much. It was easy: the rogues would give Bug a sleeping sedative, take him to their smaller base in the outskirts of Downtown, and get him to say a few words on recording about what Nick and the mayor said about prey animals without people knowing.

"It's simple!" Red Spike had said, "we just get him to answer some questions. He can do that. We'll say it's for a show; a little game!"

"Do you think he's going to be so docile about it?" Jeremy, the sheep, asked. "He's living with a cop, for Pete's sake."

"We can make him talk," Red assured. The others froze. Red noticed the Koala shifting in her seat. "What is it, Lucy? We won't hurt him. It's simple." A crazed smile filled his face as his eyes flashed crimson. "It's just so, so simple."

~

Flayre was driven to her house at around 3pm: disguised as just another student coming home from school. She picked up her Arai Renegade V crash helmet, a suitcase of clothes and a few snacks.

Nick arrived home from work at a similar time and ran to greet her. "How was it today?" He asked.

She only had five minutes before she was due back in the car. "It was amazing!" She beamed. "My codename is Snapdragon – they said I could tell you, since you're a cop, but you can't tell anyone else."

Nick nodded. "Listen, if they get you to do something you're not comfortable with–"

"I'll be–"

"No, you listen to me."

Flayre silenced, her ears rigid on her head.

"If they put you under any stress, or put you in danger, I want you to call me and you're coming home. Do you understand?"

Flayre's ears dropped to the sides. "Yes, dad."

She walked back through the house she'd grown up in. Family pictures with herself and Nick, with Konni, with Judy: Even one picture with Judy's entire family from about five years prior. Her silly little painting that she'd done in Elementary School was still on the wall next to the kitchen door. From six years ago, there was a picture of herself and Konni meeting Gazelle at one of her concerts. Because of their special status, they'd been invited on the stage. Both of them had been eleven, and as giddy as fools.

Nick watched her leave. Sometimes, he still saw the cub who would run through the house with a pepper shaker for a gun in her paws, claiming that she was 'SpyCop', the ZPD's best officer and detective who always knew how to solve a problem. Nick didn't want to believe that she had always truly known what she had wanted to be: she was far too young – she was still young now. He wished things were different; that she wanted to have a job that kept her as far out of harm's way as possible – perhaps even selling ice-cream. But she didn't. This was reality and he had to deal with it. At least she'd chosen to do something for a good cause rather than be a bloodthirsty Rogue like her mother.

Flayre opened the door and turned back to face her father. "I love you, dad."

"I love you too, Flayre."

~

Two days later, Flayre and Konni were sitting together in Konni's temporary room. It was small, with beach-themed wallpaper and a square window that overlooked a part of the city – one-way, of course. The bed was comfortable, but had one of those mattresses that you sank into when you sat down – the kind of mattress that made you feel as though you were becoming part of the bed.

"Do you think there's stuff they're not telling us?" Konni asked. He found it suspicious that he hadn't been able to see Flayre very much since they arrived.

"They're spies: they have to sort things out behind the scenes," Flayre defended. "It makes a lot of people feel safer: The world doesn't need to know every issue."

"But what about the truth?" Konni asked. "People deserve to know the truth."

Flayre's shoulders dropped at her sides. This would separate them. But she was one of the spies, now. And she understood why they worked the way they did: it was easier to focus on your job when you weren't pressured by the worries and questions of society; the fearmongers and rumour-spreaders. Flayre sighed, resigning.

"You're right," she said simply. "Are you looking forward to going back home?"

Konni nodded. "The people are strange here."

"They're working; they can't exactly engage."

"You defend them a lot."

She swore in her head. "All I know is they're keeping us safe."

"I was keeping us safe!" Konni protested.

Flayre scoffed. "You couldn't even protect yourself, let alone me! I didn't even need your help!" Konni's shoulders drooped, his tail stilling beside him: Now she'd done it. Her cocky attitude had turned into carelessness. "I'm sorry, I--"

"Just go," he said, getting up from the bed and making his way over to the door. He opened it, looking at her expectantly. "You don't need me."

With her tail between her legs, she slid off the bed and walked to the doorway. She looked back at her friend but his face was solemn; almost unreadable as he stared ahead of him with piercing blue eyes, looming over her. She stepped out. The door was closed behind her. She'd never been intimidated by Konni's height but, for some reason, the way he towered over her and refused to look at her made her feel very small.

Flayre's ears perked to footsteps and approaching her from the corridor was Agent Golding. "Flayre, Oracle needs to speak to you in his office, immediately: it's very important."