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Part 6

*Cracka-BOOM!* An explosion shook the entire lab as the five made their way to the maintenance stairwell. Jerking forward and looking back, Judy looked like she was about ready to sprint back. "Oh no! The others!"

"They will be fine." Onna said, sounding almost indifferent as she stared into the monitor blinking in her hand. "They are in the secured lab, it can withstand heavy explosions and in the case of a cave in it can support them for up to twenty days." She looked up. "That sounded like it came from the paddocks, it is likely the dinosaurs have discovered the fault in our security. They are probably bringing everything down trying to break free, we have to hurry before they do."

"Now hold on." Howard said. "That explosion sounded a lot bigger than some twelve foot dinosaurs busting out of their cages. Why are you so sure they're trying to break out."

"Because the leader is above the average intelligence of the rest of them." She explained. "If she figures a way out, she will take it."

"Why do I get the feeling you're not telling us anything unless the subject comes up?" Fangmeyer asked.

"Because the information is classified under the direct order of the Mayor. I cannot divulge anything unless it is crucial."

"What's crucial right now is catching that thief before this all gets worse." Bogo chimed in with a bit of a gruff growl. "You three have your jobs to do, and I have mine. Now move."

The walk turned into a jog down the open corridor as the group made their way toward the red signs indicating the stairs being ahead. Turning into the stairwell, they could see the door leading toward downward stairs was hanging somewhat ajar. As they got to it, they found a wrench twisted into the handle on the other side. Judy and Howard tried to pull the door free with no give.

"It's no good, he's jammed it." Judy said.

"Allow me to unjam it." Bogo started to charge toward the door as Howard and Judy both leapt out of the way. Turning his head down he slammed into the door at full force, easily causing the frame to rip apart from the inside. Dizzied for a moment, Bogo took a step back and shook his head. "There. Unjammed."

"Impressive!" Onna exclaimed. "That door was reinforced steel, but you showed the flaw in our design by ripping it out of the standard metal frame."

"Happy to help." He said as he got to his feet. Shaking his head he glared at the others. "What are you two staring at? Hopps, Howard! You are on point, lead the way."

Arming themselves with flashlights, the pair made their way down the steps first, ignoring the warning red lights that flashed over their heads while the others followed from about half a flight up. "Hey, Howard. You got a first name?" She asked.

"You mean in all the months I've been at the department, you don't even know my full name?" He asked with a snort of disapproval. "I thought you didn't like foxes, not wolves."

"No, no it's nothing like that." Judy shook her head. "I just haven't worked with you, that's all."

Howard's expression slighted into a smirk. "Bunnies are just too sensitive, Nick was right. It is fun to see you get all riled up."

"Hey!" Judy said, putting her hands aggressively onto her hips.

The echo of her voice trailed off though, when the sound of metal falling to the ground in the tunnel that lay before them echoed through the basement. "What was that?" Bogo asked from above.

"Not sure sir." Judy said. "We'll check it out."

"Chase." Howard said.

"Huh?"

"In case we die, it's only right you know my first name's Chase."

"Chase huh?" Judy repeated as the pair of them made their way into the tunnel, shining flashlights in all directions as they entered a smaller corridor and their voices entered a dull non-echoing environment. "That's a fitting name."

"How so?"

Judy smirked. "Well, you could say you like to "Chase" cars or..." Another clang made her flinch and turn around, shining her flashlight toward the entrance again. "O-or, dinosaurs like to--ah--"Chase" you, you know?"

"Oh, very funny." Howard said. "If I were going to spend the day with a comedian that makes me laugh I would've spent the day with Clawhauser..."

"I wonder where he is anyway?"

"Hello? Is anybody here?"

Clawhauser heard his voice echo as he stepped into the precinct that presided over Sahara Square. He was surprised how light the traffic was getting there, but even more surprised that after waiting almost an hour and getting no response from his CB that the police station was devoid of all personnel. The cheetah looked around at the sheer darkness in the front lobby, a bit nervous that the only light he could see was what filtered in through the windows. Peering into the front booth, then checking the floor underneath it he paused for a minute, tapping his finger on the desk in an impatient attempt to figure out where everyone else was. "Helloooo?" He called again, but was met with more silence. "Huh. First Bogo and the others, now everyone here? I sure hope I'm not stuck in the Twilight Zone... calm down Benny... calm down... that was only a dream... when you were six..." He continued to walk around the desk as he pondered where everyone was.

The layout was similar to the ZPD in district one, but it had several inconsistencies. There were no vending machines on this floor and the cheetah hadn't eaten in a few hours now. What he wanted more than anything was to take a bite out of his favorite donut and call it a day. The air conditioning was off in here, Clawhauser felt his back starting to get warmer and warmer as he walked. Soon it came to a point where the front lighting wasn't enough and he brought out his flashlight to explore further into the station. Poking his head through the door to the booking room, Clawhauser noticed that the lights were off in there too and that it was pitch black. After looking in the interrogation room and being startled by his own reflection, he had to sit down. He found a couch that looked comfortable enough just outside of the jail block and he sat down, breathing loudly as he did.

"Hello? Hello! Is there anybody out there?" A voice from inside the cell block alerted Clawhauser to another presence. Quickly, he got up and moved to the door leading into the cell block. As he shined a flashlight inside he noticed a solitary cheetah inside. She was a lot skinnier than Clawhauser, probably built like a standard model. She was dressed in a pair of slacks and a white tanktop shirt. "Hey! Hey fatso, get in here and get me out of here!"

"Hey. The name is Clawhauser; Officer Clawhauser to you..." He paused and whispered. "I've always wanted to say that." He said before giggling in delight of finding someone. "What are you doing here? Who are you?"

"Look, the name's Eddie. Okay? Now come get me out of this cell."

"Eddie, huh?" Clawhauser found a file next to the cheetah's cell and flipped it open, revealing a series of mugshots with the cheetah. "Well you're... you're supposed to be here. Where's everybody else?"

"I don't know, I swear!" Eddie exclaimed. "Suddenly everyone's going running for the doors. Everyone got let out but they forgot me here. C'mon man, you've gotta let me out!"

"No way! I'm not going to get in trouble because of what you think happened."

"What you're just going to let me starve? She asked.

"What kind of a name is Eddie for a girl anyway?"

"It's a nickname." She scoffed. "Oh come on. I can make it worth your while if you get me out of here Clawhauser..." She smiled cutely.

"Lady, I don't know what's scarier, you trying to convince me to let you out, or the fact that it's pitch black in here."

"Hmmph. Well if you want to be useful at all, you could try to get the lights on in here." She said. "I'm kind of tired of being in the dark too, you know?"

"Right." Clawhauser said, then realized what she was saying. "Riiight! I know! I can just turn the power on, the computers will come up and I can find out what happened to everyone!"

"Or you can just use your radio to call for help too."

"I can't. My battery went dead." He groaned in submission. "But I can raise them when I get the power on!" He scurried toward the door.

"Wait, wait, wait! You can't leave me in the dark like this! Let me out!" She shouted, pounding on the bars.

"Oh don't worry." Clawhauser said as he scooted a chair into the path of the door. "I can leave the door cracked for you. I'll be back in two shakes." He said as he bolted, ignoring the female's cries of anger as he made his way to the control room.

The control room was on the second floor, much like Clawhauser's home station, he stepped into the room and his flashlight skimmed across the monitors of the dead machines. "Hmm..." He pondered as he checked one of the computers and tried to turn it on with no response. "Well isn't that strange. I thought these things ran directly off the power grid, there've been no storms, so why are they off?" He made his way to the maintenance closet and pulled open the fusebox on the wall. Putting his flashlight into his mouth, he examined the fuses. "Hmm... wow... something definitely flipped the breakers." He said before instantly flicking all the switches back to the correct side. There was a loud pop followed by a humming noise as a few of the lights in the room came on. He could feel the brush of air conditioning on the back of his neck as he moaned in enjoyment. "Ohhhhh now that feels good. Benjamin Clawhauser to the rescue!" He chortled as he made his way to the computer in order to log in. "Now, let's see what happened to everyone here..."

"A dead end?" Judy asked as Bogo, Fangmeyer and Onna caught up with them.

The wall standing before them looked like a large metal sheet with rods that dug into the ceiling and the ground in front of them. Onna looked at it and chuckled. "Not exactly. That is our emergency exit, in case of emergency we take that tunnel which should lead us to the sewers and then up into the train tunnels almost two hundred feet above."

"Oh. So how do we open it?" Howard asked.

"I can access it from my control pad, it'll just be a minute."

"This place looks... clean for a sewer entrance." Fangmeyer said.

"Oh, to reduce the threat of toxins and bacteria cultures getting into the lab we flood the chamber past the door here as part of our daily routine." She said as she typed into the panel. "We keep this area very safe and sanitary." She explained. "When our systems come online, this room is flooded with a sanitizer and drained, it is then purified and returned to the water supply to Zootopia. Nothing is wasted."

"You aren't speaking with the mayor." Bogo said. "While your efforts are appreciated, right now we don't have time to listen to your sales pitch."

Onna blushed. "Of... course not. One moment and I'll have the door open."

"Hey, guys?" Fangmeyer broke the silence next. "If this is some impenetrable door, then how'd our screwball meerkat get through?"

"You're right." Bogo said. "He must still be in here... somewhere..."

"EEEYAH!" Katt suddenly sprang from the darkness and bolted toward the tunnel that led back toward the lab, on instinct and with a leaping pounce, Fangmeyer snagged the man only inches from escape and clutched him tightly in both of his hands.

"Can't take the instinct out of a cat." He growled as he managed to tighten his grip to hold onto the rodent.

"Or the reflexes out of a dancer." Howard smirked in admiration as he ignored Fangmeyer's hush-hush glance. "Nice moves there, cat-boy."

"You're not gonna take me in! I won't surrender!" Link grunted as he struggled to get out of the tiger's grasp.

"You're in the hands of the ZPD, Katt." Bogo belted out. "You ARE in!" There was a loud metallic noise followed by the long whirring of the mechanical door suddenly starting to open, drawing Bogo's attention toward it. "You can close that again Victoria, we've got what we needed. Now we need to make our way back to--"

*crackle*

The sound of Bogo's radio came to life with Clawhauser's voice. "Hey, Chief? Are you there?"

"Clawhauser, what is it? We are apprehending a suspect."

"Just wanted to know where you were, sir. Everyone's gone from the station up here and--"

"Wait... did you reboot the systems up at the police station?" Onna asked.

"Well, yeah, but it was nothing really I mean... I saw it was out and--"

A look of panic washed over the vixen's face as she jumped to her feet. "The police station's power runs on the same grid as the lab!" She said. "Rebooting it means--"

There was the sound of alarms now blaring that caused everyone to grab their ears. Fangmeyer winced, allowing his grip to loosen slightly.

"We have to get out of here! Now!" Bogo shouted above the noise.

"NNH!" Fangmeyer grunted as a large metal pipe slammed into the side of his head. A second strike sent him to the floor as Katt managed to slip out of his fingers and he bolted toward the entrance again.

"You're never gonna catch me cop-ppAHHHH!" He screamed as he noticed an enormous wall of water now gushing toward them, water curling up over the walls and into the room.

"RUN!" Judy shouted as the group ran through the second door.

Howard wrapped his arms around Fangmeyer's waist and hoisted him up just as the water struck him and everyone was thrown into the small chamber beyond.