FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Sneaking into the mall was something that seemed to be becoming normal.

Of course, big groups had more difficulty to sneak around, but they managed. Also, the fact that the group had some form of protection did helped them feel more confident ON their sneaking around.

This was the case of a group formed by many mammals; among them were Dawn Bellwether, Krystin Mieczyslaw, and Benjamin Clawhauser. This group was trying their best to sneak around and avoid being seen and, despite their big size, still, the group felt a bit safer, for they had mages among their midst.

Mages like Benjamin, who had his two-headed big white snake slithering by his side. Mages like Krystin, who showed that he could shot fireballs from his paw. Mages like Lana Bellwether, older sister of Dawn Bellwether, who showed that she could blow a golem away. Mages like the kangaroo, who showed that she could put up a good fight if the situation would ask for it. Mages like Tyson Tigereye, who showed that he too could fight and that he could heal their wounds, if the situation asked for it.

Tyson had warmly reunited with Gazelle, who was so happy for seeing him that she slipped back into her mother tongue as they talked. She even asked him about Tyrell, who was with them, only to be crestfallen when she heard that the two brothers had got separate, and that Tyson was unaware of what had happened to him.

Tyler himself was glad for seeing that the popstar was okay, and he reassured her that Tyrell was strong and that he could take care of himself. Soon, he was convincing her that they should keep moving, and she agreed.

Of course, she had not been very happy for seeing Dawn Bellwether, like most of the group, however she was convinced that she would not try anything. Still, the popstar would later discreetly whisper for Tyrell and the others to keep their eyes open in the case the ewe tried anything.

It was possible that she, along with the others, thought that the ewe somehow had something to do with the whole situation. Truth was that some of them thought it was an interesting coincidence her older sister being there...

As the group continued to move, Benjamin and his snake were on the lead, as Ben said that 'Slizz and Zass' sharp senses would help them detect danger, if there was any ahead. The snakes gladly confirmed that they were "far more perceptive than any of you mammals", to which some took it as a kind of offense.

As Ben went ahead, the snake was right ahead, and at a moment, the snake stopped, both of its heads perking.

"Sss-something is-sss ahead." One of the heads said, and Ben stood on attention, and gestured for the rest of the group to stop. They stopped, and the mages on the group were already getting ready.

"What? What is it?" Ben asked, and the snakes remained in place. They hissed as they put their tongues out, tasting the air. Soon, another head was speaking.

"Sss-shaped like mammal... but not a mammal..."

"A golem?" Ben asked.

"No..." The other head said, "It sss-serves-sss a mage, like a golem. But it is not physical..." It stuck its tongue out again, tasting the air. "Immaterial... Sss-spiritual..." One last taste of the air with a flick of a forked tongue.

"An apparition..." The head said, and Ben was getting increasingly more nervous. Some could hear what the snake was saying, and while it meant nearly nothing to the non-mages, to mages, it could mean many things.

"Right there!" The snake said, both heads pointing forward. The group looked over, but they saw nothing.

"There is nothing there." Someone who was coming right behind said.

"Mammals-sss are truly foli-sss-sh." The snake said, granting stared from the mammals who were coming behind. "You don't acknowledge sss-something if you can't sss-see it." The slithering reptile said, and soon, the other head opened its mouth.

Soon, they were letting out some kind of bluish-white smoke from the mouth, which moved forward as if it was some kind of mist, sliding through the ground and spreading forward.

As it did, the smoke soon stopped at a point, as if it had hit an obstacle. Then, the smoke moved upwards, as if it were vines wrapping around something. Soon, a shape started to become more visible, and may mammals gasped and took a step back as they looked at what just materialized in front of them.

Many immediately though that it was a ghost. The entity that had all the manner of a specter, which had a canine-like head and a long and slender body that looked to be cover by a mantle. It stood in place as the smoke that made it visible slowly vanished, leaving the specter oscillating between visible and invisible, as it just stood there, hoovering in place.

"Yep, definitely an apparition." Tyson said, "I haven't seen one in a while." The tiger said, as Gazelle clung to him, and the rest of the group stared at it.

"What is that!? Is it a ghost!?"

"An apparition, actually." The possum said, as she stood next to the kangaroo and to Lana, who was standing close to her sister and the fox. "They are made of the leftover thoughts and emotions that mammals leave behind after they die."

"Great! The mall is haunted!"

"Not really." The snake said, "This-sss apparition is-sss sss-serving a mage."

As everyone looked, the specter suddenly turned around and glided away at a great speed. This startled some, as the kangaroo had taken off her blades.

"Oh, no you won't!" She said as she jumped forward, and started to chase after the fleeing specter.

"Jade, wait!" Lana said, calling the kangaroo by her name. Soon, the group was going after, mostly because some were going after and the rest of the group was following along like a great mass.

Apparently, some of them were afraid of not being near enough the mages to enjoy of their protection.

"There you are!" They could all hear Jade's voice, as well as other voices.

"What is this!? Who are you!?"

That was a voice that Ben recognized, and he rushed forward, to meet that Jade was now face to face with a familiar would in ZPD uniform, who was making some kind of Karate Kit pose, as if ready to fight the strange armed female.

"Eliot!" Ben cried out, causing the wolf to stop and look at him. The wolf immediately dropped the fighting pose as he saw Benjamin.

"Ben! Dude!" He said happily, as he looked at him. "Dude, I'm so glad for seeing..."

The wolf was saying, but he stopped on his tracks as his smile vanished and his eyes widened. Ben blinked as he looked at him, quite confused as to why the wolf suddenly got like that.

"Ben..." Eliot said, "Do not move. There is a huge snake right behind you. And it has two heads."

Benjamin blinked, and soon he understood.

"Oh, it's okay, don't mind them." Ben said, gesturing to the snake. "They are mostly harmless."

"Mo-sss-stly harmless-sssss?" One of the heads said, sounding a bit offended by this. "We are an sss-spiritual entity of great power in the body of a two-headed creature that eats-sss mammals-sss!"

"Don't you call us-sss 'harmless-sssss'." The other head said.

"Ah! It talks!" A beagle that was holding a camera said, and soon the rest of Ben's group was arriving.

The two groups soon met each other. The ones of the bigger group were surprised for seeing a ZPD officer, the famous Victory Vulpen and her camerammal, and a thylacine in there. The thylacine, in particular, was surround by specters like the one that they had just saw.

The smaller group, on their turn, was quite surprised by the giant snake and by the presence of Both Gazelle and of Dawn Bellwether on the group. Also, for the fact that there were so many mages present on the group.

"So... you are a mage?" Ben asked to the female thylacine, and she nodded.

"Yeah, so are you." The thylacine said to him, "Mr. Clawhauser."

Ben flinched a bit, as if she had said something sensitive. Some noticed, and they found it a bit strange. However, they didn't had any time to dwell in it, for immediately after, a specter came floating fast and approached Chloe. The entity whispered in her ear, and the eyes of the thylacine widened at this.

"What? Zombies?" She said, and some who were near heard that. The specter continued to whisper in her ear, and she took it, as she was silent.

"There is another group coming that way." She said, gesturing to one side. "They are not companied by golems, and they don't seem to be any short of influence, but there are three zombies with them."

"Did she said zombies?"

"There is a huge bunch of bunnies among the mammals." The thylacine said, "I think it is the Hoppses."

"Oh my." Benjamin said, and Eliot was the one who took the lead.

"Then let's go save them!" He said, and he immediately rushed, prompting the rest of the group to rush after him. Chloe and Ben mostly wanted to stop him from doing anything stupid.

They meet the other group soon, who was walking in silence, with Bonnie being the one in the lead, carrying the same shotgun that she used to bring down the golems, with the zombies following obediently. Many of them had been uncomfortable with the presence of the undead, but none of them dared to say anything.

Even Pronk and Bucky were unusually quiet as they followed the group, both of them couldn't help but give looks to the zombies once in a while. Apparently, they were afraid that they could try going for their brains if they lost them from sight for too long.

However, the group let out several exclamations of surprise when they saw a wolf emerge from a corner, crying out for the zombies to move away for he saw lots of horror movies and knew how to beat them. Some even thought that the wolf was one of the crazed mammals, until they saw the rest of the mammals come along.

It was a moment of tension as the groups faced Benjamin's snake, Chloe's specters, and Bonnie's zombies. However, once they realized that they were all on the same side, they relaxed, although some of them were still disturbed.

"First these wackos and the living statues. Then a giant talking snake. Now ghosts and zombies. What else is going to happen?" Someone on the group said, but there was no answer.

"The-sss-se are sss-some nice zombies-sss that you have, bunny." One of the heads of the white snake said, as both of them looked at them up close. The group kept distance from the snake and the undead. "Big and sss-strong." The snake flicked its forked tongues, as if tasting the air right in front of the zombies.

"Full of anger and re-sss-ssentment for their deaths-sss." The other head said, "That sss-surely helped making them sss-stronger, although they now mu-sss-st be hard to control."

"A little bit." The bunny said to them. "But I can have them under control."

"So... you are a necromancer?" Ben asked, looking at the bunny, and suddenly, it was as if something clicked in his head, and he looked at her as if he was seeing her for the first time.

"Wait. Mrs. Hopps, you are-?"

"We are going to a security station that is in that direction." Bonnie said, suddenly cutting the cheetah before he could finish the question. "There is a security guard with us who said that there is a room in there where maybe we could be safe, if we can get there." She spoke, and security guard in question, a boar named Fred, confirmed that the room was there and that it was a safe place.

"It is a place where we can keep watch of the entire mall." The boar said to the others of the now large group. "The room is reinforced in case of an invasion, and it can hold a big group. Although I think we will have to cram ourselves there if we all go."

"How do you know if it is truly safe?" Someone else from the group asked. "Shouldn't we be trying to find a way out?"

"Not an option." Chloe said, "It seems that they have blocked all of the accesses between the floors, both the stairs and the elevators."

"Told you we shouldn't use the elevators." Bucky said, and Pronk rolled his eyes.

"The room has a lot of monitors that allow us to see the security cameras from all around the mall." The boar said, looking around. "There is also a phone in there. Maybe we can call for help, in case it is still working."

"Sounds like a reasonable course of action." Benjamin said, "We can take cover in there, watch the mall through the cameras and call for help."

"Guess we can do that." Kristyn said. "Let's go then."

Some opposed the idea, while others were on favor. Of course, all of them ended up following, for one reason or another.

The three groups had turned into a single group, which turned it increasingly hard to circulate around the place while sneaking. For that, the group kept walking in line, a very knit one, and being careful as not to step on the smaller ones.

"I'm still unsure about that snake." Jason confessed to harry, as the two bunnies walked along with their siblings. "What if it decides to have us for a snack?"

"You don't know, okay?" Harry said, as they continued to walk. "I'm freaking out about the snake too, but I'm also freaking out about the zombies." Harry confessed, "But all of them are on our side, so it seems that we can count on them to keep us safe. After all, you saw what the zombies did to these two golems back them, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did." Jason said, remembering of how the three undead had practically tore apart the two beings made of stone with nothing more than their bare paws. They had attacked with a ferocity that Jason only heard that predators had and they didn't even felt any of the blows that the golems gave in return. "That is why they actually scare me."

As the group continued, they were able to avoid capture, as it seemed they chose a route with the minimal amount of enemies. They only meet up with two teams on their way, one of them was formed by three golems, and the other was formed by two. The beings of stone were easily overwhelm by the work of the mages in there, who showed that the golems were no match for their skills.

As the group passed, they left behind broken pieces of golems on their wake, which would surely be found later on by other passing groups. However, the important was that they were able to avoid capture and to remain hidden enough to be able to sneak to the said room where they would be safe.

However...

As the group waited, one of Chloe's specters came to her, and whispered something in her ear.

The thylacine soon was turning to the group and telling them that the entrance of the security room was also being guard by a group, this one a bit bigger and composed by four rhinos and two golems, all of them looking ready to fight.

"What now?" Jason asked, looking around, and the answer came from the kangaroo.

"Leave it to us." Jade said, as she looked around. "I can take care of these golems, and Fannie can bring down the rhinos."

"I'm sorry, Fannie?"

"That would be me." Said the possum, and everyone looked at her.

"A tiny possum bringing down four rhinos? Yeah, as if!" Someone of the group said, as it seemed that they clearly not believed that to be possible. However, the possum simply smiled at him.

"Well, we'll see about that." The possum said as she reached out for something inside of her clothes.

As the possum and kangaroo both went ahead, they soon had the said group in sight. Four rhinos, with torn clothes and crazed looks in their eyes, screaming "rock and roll" and stuff, and two golems armed with big swords of chipped stone.

With a look between themselves, the kangaroo and possum nodded, before they both sprint into action.

"Hey, idiots!" Fannie said, as she waved to the group, which then had her in their full attention.

"Rock n' roll!" One of the rhinos said, as all of them charged in her direction. Immediately, the kangaroo was in action, as she gave a powerful jump and passed over the heads of the rhinos, as she landed behind them, and had her full attention on the golems, who were considerably slower.

As she fought the golems with her daggers, the rhinos immediately tried to reach out for her. As they did, the possum brought forth the small jug container that she had and emptied some of its contents in her paw. It was a thin black powder.

As the first of the golems came to her, crouching to reach her out, the possum was quick to react, as she brought her fist, closed, but not tightly, in front of her muzzle and blew into it. It caused the powder that was on her paw to puff outward, right into the face of the rhino.

The big mammal let out a choking noise that only lasted for a second, before he fell to the ground, unmoving.

Another rhino tried to reach for her, but the possum was quick to dive out of his reach and to get another pawful of powder, which she blew right into the other rhino's face.

The rhino twitched violently as he fell to the ground, before going completely still.

Another one of the rhinos tried to punch her, but she jumped out of the way with amazing agility, and she landed on the shoulder of the rhino, before she once more blew the powder right on his face, causing him to twitch violently and fall to the ground. As he did, Fannie made a mortal jump over the body of the rhino, and landed right on the head of the last rhino that was still standing.

"Rock n' roll!?"

"Hello there." Fannie said sweetly, before she blew the powder on the face of the rhino. This one cried out as he flailed wildly, and the possum jumped out of his head as he fell to the ground.

The rhino twitched violently as he was on the ground, foaming from the mouth. However, soon, like all the others, he went completely still, not moving at all.

Fannie looked satisfied with herself as she saw all of the fallen rhinos, not one of them moving an inch.

Meanwhile, Jade had finished with the golems, whom now laid in pieces on the ground. The kangaroo, just like the possum, had not a single scratch on her body. They looked at each other, nodding in a silent compliment for the job well done.

Soon, they were able to go to the group and to tell them that the coast was clear for them to go. Some of them didn't believed, but they changed their minds as soon as they saw the four rhinos on the ground and the broken golems.

Some of them asked the kangaroo if she took them all by herself, but Jade confirmed that she only took care of the golems. Fannie took care of the rhinos.

Some still didn't quite believed that a possum would have been able to bring down four rhinos all by herself. However, it seemed that it was truth, as the four mammals laid on the ground completely still.

Too still...

"They are dead!" Said someone after kneeling by a rhino and checking his pulse, and finding none.

"They are all dead!"

The group looked in horror, as they looked at the rhinos on the ground, which didn't moved, had their eyes opened, and didn't seemed to be even breathing.

"Well, I had to bring them down, right?" Fannie said casually, as the rest of the group looked at her in horror. "These guys didn't seemed that they would have qualms about crushing me."

"That is no reason to kill them, you sick possum!"

"Will you stop complaining?" Fannie said, sounding a bit annoyed at how that mammal was acting. "They are fine."

"They are not moving! And none of them have pulse!"

"They will be moving again by tomorrow, stop worrying." Fannie said, and the mammals looked at her.

"Just what have you done to them?" Kristyn asked, as he walked close to look at one of the fallen rhinos. The rhino was not even twitching, and it truly seemed that he wasn't even breathing. It really seemed that he was dead.

"Just used some of this." Fannie said, showing the small jug, and everyone looked at that.

"And what is in there?" Someone on the group asked, the same mammal who checked on the rhinos. "Is it some kind of poison that kills instantly?"

"It is coup de poudre." The possum explained. "It is used as works as part of the zombification process."

"Z-zombification!?"

Immediately, all eyes (save for Cotton's, which were still covered with a blindfold) turned to the zombies in there. Now some of them were wondering if these four rhinos would rise up as undead at any moment.

"It is not the same." Fannie said, "The bunny's necromancy is not like what I do. It is not how voodoo works."

"Voodoo?"

"It is the type of magecraft that she uses." Lana Bellwether said, "Fannie is from a clan of voodoo users."

"Look, instead of discussing this, why don't we all go inside?" Dawn Bellwether said, and some begrudgingly agreed with her, as they knew that their chances were probably better at the security room.

Once inside, they saw that the place seemed to have been thoroughly wreck, apparently by the mammals and golems that now laid outside. The whole place was broken, with many of the monitors broken, apparently beyond repair. On a corner, there was the body of a tiger in a security uniform, someone who the boar recognized as Gill, one of the mammals who were in the security room to watch the cameras. Apparently, he tried to fight back and paid the price.

"Don't take your blindfold off, Cotton." Bonnie said to her granddaughter, as the group got into the room and looked around, trying to figure out what to do next.

The zombies that were with the group now were left on the outside, serving as guards.

Someone had been kind enough to remove a jacket and use it to cover the corpse of the tiger.

"Couldn't Mom animate that guy as well?" Jason asked to his siblings. However, he made the mistake of doing that within Bonnie's earshot. The female turned her head to look at him with a glare that made him shrink away.

Meanwhile, the mammals in there tried to figure out what to do next, and how to proceed in a moment like that.

"They broke all of the monitors." Fred said as he looked around, seeing the damage that they have done to the place. "Only two of them are still intact, and still, I doubt that they would work."

"So much for the plan of keeping watch over the place through the cameras." Benjamin said, as he looked at the many broken monitors. The idea of keeping watch through them was very good, but it seemed that now this idea had fallen flat and was no longer an option.

"Maybe we still can." Dawn Bellwether suddenly said, causing everyone to look at her.

"The cameras still work, even with the monitors broken, right?"

"Yes, but we cannot see through them if there are no monitors." Fred confirmed to the ewe.

"Yes, we can." The ewe said, and she looked at him. "I need you to remove some wiring from this console and bring it outside, I have a plan."

"What kind of plan?"

"Just do what I asked." The ewe insisted.

"And why reason would anyone do what you ask?" Someone among the mammals said, and Dawn recoiled visibly at this. In truth, may of the present mammals thought that there was no reason to listen to anything that Bellwether had to say, much less to do something that she was asking.

However, some were on her side.

"I do believe that she has some kind of idea." Krystin said, "She is known for being quite resourceful."

"Yeah, like when she tried to ruin the lives of all predators in this city." Said a bear of the group. "I bet that her 'plan' involves something that will help her escape."

"No it does not!" Bellwether said; sounding high-pitched as she voiced her mind, and she did looked quite distraught. "I just want to help!"

"Help who, you crazy ewe!?" The bear roared, and Dawn recoiled next to Krystin, who instinctively pulled her closer to himself. Meanwhile, Lana had stepped forward, and she was now standing between the fox and the smaller ewe, and the huge bear. She looked at him in the eyes, as if she was challenging him to try anything. The bear actually flinched under the glare that the ewe was giving her.

It were some tense few moments, before Dawn's voice came once more, this time sounding a bit meek.

"I just want to help... Please."

The way she spoke made she seem like a far cry from the infamous cruel sheep that had almost tore the city apart. However, may remembered that one reason that her plan to tear Zootopia apart nearly worked was because she was really good at playing the innocent, for she was a true sociopath.

However, the way that she was asking, along with the support from Krys, somehow managed to convince a few mammals to do as she was asking.

Soon, the great console that were the controls of the cameras and monitors was open, and Fred was fumbling on the wires inside. Luckily, they forced him to learn how that thing worked when they hired him, so he would be able to fix small problems if they ever arose.

Meanwhile, Dawn Bellwether had pulled one of the chalks that her older sister gave to her. She was now using it to draw on the ground, forming a circle that had shapes inside of it. She was putting a lot of effort into making that magic circle on the ground, and it looked to be quite good.

Fred was able to pick up a few wires from the inside, recognizing the ones that were connected to the cameras. Meanwhile, Dawn was making lines that connected the big magic circle to smaller ones on the ground, all of them made with just as much perfectionism.

Once the set of circles was ready, the boar had finished identifying the wires that connected to the cameras, and was holding them on his hooves.

"Bring these wires here and place them into the circle." The ewe said, and the boar did as he was told. He placed the tips of the wires inside of the biggest circle, and the ewe also placed something inside: two chalks, one purple and one red.

She held them both on her hooves before placing them on the circle, and she even blew on them.

As they were on the circle, she told others to "stand back", and everyone obeyed. Soon, the ewe was starting to chant some kind of spell. As she did, the circles that she had drawn on the ground started to glow, and so did the two chalks that she placed inside of the main circle.

As she reached the climax of her spell, the two chalks ignited, bursting in flames that started as orange, but that then turned a blue coloration.

Everyone gave a step back; some of them even thought that she was going to try to start a fire. However, the fire remained in the center of the circle, where the two chalks had been place. Soon, the fire was producing a clear and blue smoke, which actually almost looked like some kind of mist.

As she did it, something started to happen to the security cameras all around the mall.

The lights that blipped on them were red; however, at that moment, the lights changed coloration, and started to glow in a blue color.

Back in the security room, the mist formed by the fire started to condense, then, something else started to happen to the mass of mist, as it seemed that colors were changing inside of the cloud and forming shapes.

It was blurry at first, but in time, it started to get clearer, until it was clear as day.

"That... that is the entrance!" Fred said. "This is the image of one of the security cameras!"

Everyone looked at the image, which showed an aerial shot of the entrance area, taken by the security camera that was right on the place. It was possible to see the main entrance of the mall, which had been block by branches and by other things pilled in there to act as a barricade. It was also being watch by two golems, both as big as elephants.

"They completely blocked the entrance." Dawn said; as he reached out for one of the minor circles that were connect to the main one by lines drawn in the same chalk. She moved her hooved fingers over the circle, and this caused a reaction from the main circle, as the image that was being show by the mist changed.

Now it was showing another area of the mall, but this one also seemed to be an entrance, maybe a lateral one. It was equally blocked and guarded.

She flicked her hoof over the circle again, and this caused the image to shift again, showing another entrance, which was equally as blocked.

Another flick and it shifted once more, and this time it showed the lower levels of the mall.

"They even blocked the entrances on the parking lots." The ewe said, as she looked at the effort that was put into blocking these entrances, and that there were golems watching these areas as well.

With another flick of her hoof, she shifted the image once more. She now was going between many images, as the movements of her hoof over the smaller circle allowed her to shift from one camera into another.

"They are guarding all elevators and stairs." She said as she looked, "They really are not taking any chances."

As she continued to shift between the cameras, the others looked at what she was doing, and some of them seemed impressed.

"How are you doing this?" Jade asked, as she looked to the images that were being project.

"Just creating an interface between the cameras and this." The ewe said, as she continued to shift between the feeds of the many cameras. "Basically I'm just replacing a monitor with a medium created by thaumaturgy."

"That is rather cool." Fannie said, "And you managed to do this in a matter of seconds..."

"Yeah, I... kind of already did something like that before." The ewe admitted, sounding a little bashful at this. However, she continued to focus on the images. "Wait, what is that?"

As she did this, she went back a few images, and she was able to pick something in the cameras.

It was an image of an aerial shot taken by a camera. There was something moving on the corner of the image.

The ewe reached out for another smaller circle, and flicked her hooved fingers over it. This caused the image to change, as it seemed that the camera was zooming in. They were able to pick up the movement on the corner of the image, and they could see that it was a small group, composed by a zebra, a hippo, a wolf and a tiger. The wolf and tiger were both wearing ZPD uniforms.

"These are Fangmeyer and Wolfard!" Benjamin said, "They are both alive!"

"Yeah, but the tigress-sss looks-sss like sss-she is-sss not very well." The snake said, as everyone looked and agreed that it seemed that the tigress had hurt her arm, which was bandage in an improvised way. The group looked like they were moving to avoid capture.

"Where is this?" Someone asked.

"Right beneath us, on the ninth floor... Section 34." The ewe said, as it looked like she was somehow gaining information from this through yet another small circle, which was projecting some kind of image on itself, which actually looked like a bunch of numbers and symbols floating.

"They must have got there before they blocked the access between the floors." Lana said as she looked.

"There are other groups around?" Fred asked, and soon the ewe was flicking her hooves over the other circle, causing it to shift between the cameras.

They found three more small groups that were sneaking around on the third, fourth and seventh floors. However, another thing that they found were groups of hostages. Masses of mammals that were compressed together by crazed mammals and golems, which looked at them as if they were keeping an eye for the case that they would try anything.

There were two or three of these groups on each floor, and all of them seemed like they were in danger. It was also possible to see one or another corpse as they shifted from the cameras.

However, what called the most attention was on the main square of the mall, where a great number of mammals had been take and were not being keep.

"These guys are everywhere!" Bucky said as he looked at the images (the image was big enough so everyone of the room could see it, pretty much like a big screen television). Many agreed with him, as it was troubling to know that these guys were everywhere in the mall.

"Think that we can fight our way out?" Jade said.

"Not likely." Krys said, as he looked at the images. "There are too many of them and it would be very hard to fight, especially if more started coming for us."

"We could even make it out, but many of us-sss would become ca-sss-sualties-sss." The snake said, and the other head agreed with it. Many were still staring at the giant, two-headed talking snake, as they still retained a considerable distance from it. Save for Ben, who stood right by the side of the snake.

"What about all of the hostages?" Ben asked, as he remembered all of the groups that were lost in the mall. "We cannot leave them alone!"

"Why not?" The snake asked, looking at him. "I mean, it was-sss not our fault that they were sss-stupid enough to get lo-sss-st and captured."

"We cannot abandon them!" Ben said to the snake. "It is not right!"

"Benjamin is right." Krystin said, "We cannot abandon the hostages to their own luck. But, at the current situation, there is really not much that we can do for them."

"Then, what do we do?" Eliot asked, and the fox looked back at him.

"We call for backup." The vulpine said, looking at the boar. "There is a working telephone in here, right?"

---

Marceli Miczyslaw hung up the phone and let out a heavy sigh. All eyes were on the black fox as he let them know what the call was about, which the fox soon said:

It was a call from the responsible for the raid to let them know that there had been casualties of the hostages. Apparently, some of them tried to escape and to fight back, and they ended up being kill by the golems.

This caused many of the presents to tense considerably, as they were once more remind of how dire the situation was. There were hostages, and they could be kill at a moment's notice, just like that.

It was worse for some, like for Judy, who still remembered that she had family and friends inside of the place. The thought that any moment she could find out that they were among the casualties was something that deeply troubled her.

This only made her want to get into that building even more and save everyone, but they were still unable to do that, for there was still the problem of them not knowing the location of the hostages inside of the mall, neither how many groups there were, and neither the location and number of hostiles.

It would be walking in the middle of a great mess only for it to get even messier.

As the cops continued to go around and discuss plans with each other:

"Excuse me, Chief?"

All eyes turned to the entrance, to see Delgato in there, and the lion looked like he wanted to say something.

"What is it?" The buffalo asked.

"Is that, the secretary of the enforcers is here, and he says that he got the blueprints." The lion said. This caused Bogo to look at the two foxes. Marceli was the one who nodded at him, and the buffalo sighed.

"Bring him in."

With this, soon the lion was walking inside, followed close by the jackal, who was carrying something with himself.

"Jackalson." Marceli said, and the jackal nodded at him.

"Sir. Ma'am." The jackal said, as he approached with a load of folded paper sheets on his arms. "I'm sorry that I took so long. I had to go through a lot with these mammals from the City Hall and they didn't wanted to liberate the blueprints. But here they are now."

The jackal said as he placed the load of rolled paper in the table.

"Blueprints of New Den Plaza."

Yes, in an occasion like that, it was imperative to have blueprints of the place in question, to help in tactics and planning. Jackalson had been task with getting the blueprints and bringing them, and the jackal proved that he could be trusted with something like that.

Now that they had them, it should be a little better to understand the place.

However, they only needed to look at the blueprints to know that even that could pose a challenge.

"There is no way that the mall is that big." McChill said as he just looked at yet another sheet of paper that detailed the internal architecture of another sector of the mall. Only trying to understand these blueprints was almost making his head spin.

As he got sight of what was on the corner of the sheet.

"You got the wrong blueprints!" The polar bear said, looking at the jackal, who shrunk upon the aggressive tone used by the bear.

"N-no I didn't!" The jackal said in his defense. "These are the right blueprints!"

"Look at this one!" The polar bear said, gesturing to what he saw in the bottom of the sheet. "It says that it is from sector 44, on the eleventh floor!" The bear was saying that in a tone that almost made it seems like a threat. It seemed he wanted to make it perfectly clear to the canine just who mad he was.

The bear threw that sheet in the table and walked to the entrance of the tent, pulling it to open and gesture to the mall.

"Just take a look! The mall only has seven floors!" The bear was nearly roaring, catching the attention of some of the ones who were passing. "There is no eleventh floor!"

"The building has twelve floors on the inside."

The voice who spoke that was one unknown, and made everyone stand on their seats and look around, before they were able to pinpoint the location of the voice. McChill himself had missed this mammal until he looked down in time to see him walking inside. He should stand on 3'2'' feet tall, if you counted his big ears. The fur on his head was of a dirty-white coloration, with a darker shade on his snout and on the tips of his ears. His nose was black in color, and he had long whispers on his face. His eyes were of a pale-yellow coloration, and they were behind a pair of glasses with circular lenses. By his face, he seemed to be somewhere on his late thirties. He was wearing a nice looking suit, with a black blazer, black pants, and a red tie. He wore thick gloves on his paws and he wore what seemed to be iron shoes on his feet, which made a repetitive clanking sound as he walked and they touched the ground.

Everyone looked at the newcomer.

"Hey, hey!" McChill said, "No civils in here, bunny!"

The bunny ignored him, and simply continued to walk inside.

"I want to know who is in charge."

The tone that the bunny used was serious and professional, and it had a type of authority to it that would make a general proud. Maybe that was why someone even dignified to answer.

"Well, that would be me." Chief Bogo said, and then he corrected himself:

"Actually, it is an occasion of shared jurisdiction." The buffalo said, looking at the fox who was sitting next to him. "I'm the Chief Mansa Bogo, of the ZPD Precinct One. This is the enforcer Marceli Mieczyslaw, we are both in charge here." The buffalo said. "And, who are you?"

The bunny approached, and he effortlessly jumped to the table, his metal shoes clanking as he landed in it. He reached out for his clothes and pullet out what seemed to be a small flat thing of grey coloration with blue glowing trimming.

As he held it, it suddenly flashed, producing an image in the air that looked like an ID. It showed a photo of the face of the bunny and a curious-looking badge.

"Agent Andrew Lapinsky, of the twelfth division of the Technocratic Union." The bunny announced. "I'm here in answer to a disturbance that was detected."

Many looked at the bunny who just showed a holographic version of a government credential. The enforcers, however, had only raised eyebrows.

"An Agent, huh?" Marceli asked, as he looked at the newcomer. "So the Technocracy is also involved in this?"

"That is correct." The bunny said as he deactivated his holographic credentials and placed it back on his pocket. Meanwhile, the mammals around were a bit confused.

"Sorry, we are not familiar with all of the things that develop between mages and so." Nick said, getting some attention. "So, someone could please fill us in?"

"He is an Agent." Emilia said, looking at the other tod. "They are to the Technocracy what the enforcers are to the Mage's Association. And if they sent one in here, this means that they are concerned about what is going on."

"Indeed." The bunny confirmed, as he looked around. "Now, I must inform you that the Technocratic Union has an interest in what is happening in New Den Plaza, as the industries that helped the building of the mage are subsidiaries of it."

"In other words, the Technocracy built New Den Plaza." Marceli concluded.

"How did you get the clans to give you permission for that?" Emilia asked, sounding genuinely curious with it.

"The same way we got their permission to build the climate walls over forty years ago." The bunny answered, "However, this is not relevant. What is relevant is that the Technocracy does hold a great interest in the developments regarding New Den Plaza, and the current hostage situation. It is of their interest to solve the situation as swiftly and efficiently as possible, and that is the reason why I'm here. I'll offer my entire cooperation in all that there could be needed."

"Great, yet another mage in this mess." McChill said, and the bunny shot him a glare that made the bear recoil, almost as if he had received a physical blow.

"I'm not a mage, officer." The bunny said coldly. "I'm a user of Enlightened Science. Please, know the difference."

Bogo was about to say something to them, but he was cut off when his phone all of suddenly buzzed to life.

Oh, great. Who could it be now?

Bogo reached out for his phone and looked at who it could be, and his eyes widened as he saw that is was from an unknown number.

Great, just who could it be at a moment like that? Bogo thought as he took the phone to his ear, and is eyes widened.

"It's Clawhauser!" The buffalo suddenly said, causing everyone to turn to look at him.

"Chief! Oh, I'm so glad to hear your voice!"

"Clawhauser, hold on, I'll put you on speaker!" The buffalo said, and he soon was doing what he said, so everyone around could hear the cheetah.

"Guys? Are you all there? Can all of you hear me?" The voice of the cheetah came through the phone, and everyone could hear it. Including Judy, who jumped for the phone and snatched it from the Chief's hoof, shocking the bovine slightly.

"BEN!" The bunny cried out, holding the phone, which was much bigger than a phone would be for her, as she cried out on the phone. "Ben, is my family with you!? Are they okay!?"

"Hopps! Give me back my phone!"

"Ben! I need to know if my family is safe!" Judy said, ignoring her boss and focusing on the phone.

"Yes, they are all here!" Ben said in the phone, and soon, more voices were coming from the phone, which apparently was also in speaker.

"Judy! Is that you?" Came Bonnie's voice.

"Jude! Girl you won't believe what has happened in the past thirty minutes!" Harry's voice came from the other side, followed by Stu's voice.

"Judy! Your mother has been keeping secrets from us!"

"Stewart!"

They were fine! They were all alive and fine! Oh, she was so happy for that that she barely noticed the talk about her mother having kept secrets.

"Aunt Judy!" Came the familiar tiny voice of Cotton. "Aunt Judy, we are in a police station inside of the mall!"

"Police station... what?"

"HOPPS! If you don't give me my phone back right now I'm demoting you to a meter maid!" Bogo said, and this threat seemed to be enough to make the bunny handle the device back to the buffalo, who held it and let everyone hear the conversation.

"Clawhauser, what is going on? What talk is that about a 'police station on the mall'?"

"She meant a security station." The cheetah's voice came from the other end of the phone. "We managed to get in here while we were running. The door is locked and it is very sturdy, so I think we will be safe."

"Attention, Officer Clawhauser." Said agent Lapinsky, as he looked at the phone, approaching but not snatching it from Bogo's hoof as Judy did. "I'm agent Lapinsky, of the Technocratic Union; I need you to tell us exactly what has happened."

"Well, we were able to fight our way through the golems and the controlled mammals." The cheetah said. "Originally we were three groups, but we met in the middle of the way and we were able to organize ourselves to find a way. There was a security guard with us, and he told us of the security room and that it was a safe place, so we were able to come to it and find refuge."

The bunny heard as the cheetah said that, and he nodded, as if he was making a mental note of what the feline on the other side of the phone was saying to him. Meanwhile, the others around continued to listen, and they too were getting interesting in what the feline was saying.

"Clawhauser, there are others with you besides Hopps' family?" Bogo asked.

"Yes, there are others. Many others." Ben confirmed, "There are the Oryx-Antlersons. There is Officer Fanghanel and his wife. There is Gazelle, yes, _that Gazelle._"

"Clawhauser, focus, we need a list of names." Bogo said, and the cheetah soon was giving him a full list of names.

It was a lengthy list, if you considered the size of the group. It included Victoria Vulpen, Gazelle, Eliot and Chloe Fanghanel, the Hoppses, Bucky and Pronk Oryx-Antlerson, Tyson Tigereye (identified as one of Gazelle's dancers), arriving in Dawn Bellwether.

At this moment, Bogo got particularly interested.

"Bellwether's with you?" The buffalo asked, as he suddenly got somewhat worried more attentive.

"Yeah, she is along with Krystin Miczyslaw and Lana Bellwether, her older sister."

"Older sister?" Nick said, "For real?"

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?" Came a female voice from the other end, and Nick could only assume that it was the said sister.

"Clawhauser, keep your eyes open." McChill said, "That sheep can be sneakier than a fox." He said, and this granted him some looks from the presents, the foxes in particular.

"She is actually helping." Benjamin said, "Krystin Mieczyslaw removed her collar so she could use magecraft, and she is helping is now."

"He took off her collar?" Emilia asked, sounding quite surprised.

"Yeah, I thought that she would be able to help us better if she was without it." The voice of the tod came through the phone. "And it turns out that she really is. She found out a way to tap into the security cameras even though the monitors are destroyed, and now we have visual of the entire mall."

"Krys!" Emilia said to him, "Dude, it is so good to hear your voice!"

"You can see the mall?" Marceli asked, as this had caught his attention. "Think you could share with us what you are all seeing?"

"Sure can." Came another voice, this one female, and one that many mammals found familiar. It was the voice of Dawn Bellwether. "I have just taken a look in most of the floors, and I really think I can tell you guys what to expect once you get inside."

"Okay, and we would take your word because...?" Delgato asked as he looked at the phone, and there was a silence, before the voice of Krystin spoke once more.

"She is only trying to help. You better accept it."

The tone he used was strange, and some of the ones who were around noticed, however, they were still knowing that this could probably be their best shot on rescuing hostages.

"Okay." Bogo said, "Start by telling us where you are."

"We are in security room 07." Benjamin said through the phone. "On west wing, sector 22, 10th floor."

As he spoke, Jackalson was fumbling through the many sheets that made the blueprints. It took almost a full minute, but he was able to find the exact location of what Benjamin had just said, and he was able to mark it. Now they knew exactly in which part of the mall they were.

With this part done, they started to ask more questions, starting with the location of groups of hostages, to which the mammals on the other end showed to be pretty efficient and useful. Bellwether was telling them what she could see through the cameras and pointing to them the location of the hostages, with Fred, the security, confirming to them the locations, so they could mark them on the blueprints to be able to orientate themselves.

They had counted groups of hostages on all of the floors, much like what the responsible for the taking had firs said to Marceli through the old phone, and what seemed to be a big group at the center of the first floor, on what seemed to be a huge square.

Once the groups were detected, they were informed of the other things that they should know, like the groups that were guardian all of the accesses between the floors, the stairs and the elevators. They also were told of the groups that were patrolling the hallways of the mall, leaving it clear to them that an access was not going to be easy.

"That is pretty much all of it." Bellwethers voice came from the other end, and the mammals nodded as they heard it. Some of them were still not sure if they could trust the word of that ewe, however, the fact that her words were being confirm by Krystin and by Fred, as well as by Benjamin, seemed to be enough for them to take them with a deal of security.

Even though some of them still thought, with certain reason, that the ewe somehow could give them wrong information on purpose to put them in problem.

"Yeah, it sees that it is not going to be easy." Marceli said, as he looked at all of them points that have been marked on the blueprints, signaling for them the location of the hostages and of the areas that were being covered by groups of hostiles, which they already knew that were on big numbers.

"Well, guess we will have to try our best." Nick said, looking around. "You guys just hang in there; we will be arriving to get you all out as fast as we can."

"You all stay safe." Judy said, talking mostly to her own family as she spoke that.

"We will try." Said Jason's voice, one of Judy's siblings. "But, considering that we have some mages with us and that mom got her zombies watching the door, I think that we will be fine."

"Her what now?" Judy said, and some of the other presents shared looks at what the bunny on the other line said.

"We'll all be waiting." Bonnie said, "Please, be careful!"

"But if you don't, try not to die. It would be inconvenient to all of us-sss." Said yet another voice, and this one has caused Bogo to raise an eyebrow, as it sounded really strange.

"Who is this?"

"We'll all be waiting! Please, be quick!" Said Benjamin, right before he hung it up, leaving the line mute.

A silence followed this, as everyone looked at the phone processing what just happened.

"That was a bit suspicious." Emilia said.

"How did they even managed to call us from the inside?" McChill said, "I thought all the communications between in and out of the mall had somehow been cut."

"The security rooms have individual communication systems." Lapinsky said, causing everyone to look at him. "It is a special system that resists interference in the case there is a problem, like what is happening right now."

"Quite convenient, ain't it?" Nick said, causing the bunny in a suit and metal shoes to look at him in silence.

"Well, it seems that now we have a better idea of what is expecting us inside of the mall." Marceli said, breaking the tension that was threatening to building between the two mammals in there. "It seems that now we have better conditions to start acting."

Everyone looked at each other, before their eyes all focused on Chief Bogo. In particular, the eyes of the bunny and the fox officers were on him, as they were expecting for his decision.

The buffalo sighed, as he looked at the two and said:

"Wilde. Hopps. Don't screw this up."