"So, since you two are starting today, let's start with something easy." The cheetah, Layla, said to the two mammals. "Linda, you have some experience with cockatoos, right? We have a client who has two, a male and a female, and just left them in here for some grooming of the feathers. Think you can take care of that?"

Linda hesitated before answering, "Well, I guess so… It makes some years since I had a cockatoo myself. But I think I can wing it." She spoke, and Alex couldn't help but chuckle at the unintentional joke.

"Good, Alex, you will be taking care of the storage. You need to separate the recently arrived food for the pets by brand and the type of pet they are meant for, and then you can organize them in the storage and also in the shelves. It is quite boring, but is a needed job, and also quite easy. You can take care of that." She said with a wink at him, and Alex nodded. Linda, however, didn't quite liked that wink, giving the cheetah an expression that you would expect when someone flirts with you in front of your girlfriend.

Luckily, that was all that it was needed at the moment, before Alex and Lind both went to do their jobs. Soon, they were getting absorbed into the new jobs that they were doing, and they were not the only ones…[center] ******* [/center]

 

Back in Little Rodentia, Jeff was now being scouted by another mammal in direction to his first new assignment. The one scouting him was Mrs. Chinchilla, who was, as you probably guessed, a chinchilla. [i]Chinchilla lanigera[/i], the long-tailed chinchilla. She dwarfed Jeff on proximity, for she stood on nearly eight inches tall, representing a significant difference from Jeff, who was less than four. She was wearing an indigo business dress, and she had a pair of "grandma glasses" on her face. The expression on her face was of someone who was used to deal with things her way, and she would not take jokes or insubordination from others, being the kind of professional mammal. Or at least that was what Jeff had deduced.

"This enterprise is a serious place." Chinchilla spoke to Jeff, without even turning to look at him as she continued to walk, as if she just expected him to continue to follow her. "This means that this is not the kind of place that can have just any mammal as an employee, once the kind of employee of a place reflects on the place itself, be it in the efficiency, be it on the image."

Jeff didn't say a word as he continued to follow her. He knew when it was a good idea to keep quiet and let the others talk all they want. That was one of these moments.

"Of course, many want a job in here, but we can't just give any of them a job, once it would not be advantageous for us." She continued as she guided Jeff across the hallway, and in direction to a door. "This is why [i]this[/i] specific job is important."

She opened the door, and revealed a whole room that was filled with files and cases, filled with more files. Most of the files were stacked one above the other, and even lying around as if they had been left in there anyway. The place was not a mess, but it was also far from properly organized. Jeff felt like it was secure to classify it as "controlled chaos".

"These are files of many mammals who came here recently requesting for a job." Mrs. Chinchilla said, "They left their resumes, and of course, as the personnel manager, it is my job and of my team to check the information they give, as well as checking the background of each one of them to make sure that they are viable options, or if they are not fit to be hired."

She looked at Jeff, who continued to look at her.

"Well, you are not going to be put to work on the personnel, at least not yet." She said as she looked back at him. "This job requires you to be trustworthy and efficient, and this is not the kind of thing that you can just come and do." She turned, and walked in direction to a nearby shelve. "Well, most of these files are already complete with all of the relevant information of all candidates, and your job is just separate them."

"So, I organize them." Jeff completed.

"Yes." Chinchilla said, turning back to him, two files in her hands. "You will go through them and you will see if the employee is good to be hired, or if is to be declined. It is a very simple job. The employee either fits or doesn't fits. For example, …" She said, and handed Jeff one file, and Jeff opened it as he looked inside, seeing the picture of a hamster in it.

"Nathaniel Littleton, 34 years old, ex-manager of an important company, laid off due to personal reasons. Has two university degrees in administration. No criminal record of any kind. Father of two children. An example of a good citizen of Little Rodentia and of a positive employee for this company." Chinchilla said, as Jeff took a quick look at his file. She barely noticed that Jeff had frowned upon reading it.

"On the other end of the spectrum." She said, handling him another file. Jeff also took it, and he opened to see the figure of another rodent in there. However, it was obvious that this was not a mouse…

"Andrew Rathaway, 27 years old, worked previously in a drive thru, fired for 'problems to interact with others'. Don't possess degree. Two passages on the police, one for dangerous driving, and the other for possession of controlled substance. The kind of employee that is to be avoided at any cost." Chinchilla said. Jeff continued to look through the file, and he had a raised eyebrow.

"So… Rathaway is the kind of mammal you [i]don't[/i] want to hire?" He asked.

"Obviously." She said to him. "With a background like that, he is just not desirable. Even if he was not… well, you just need to take a look at the picture." She said, and Jeff indeed looked.

[i]Rattus Rattus[/i]. A black rat.

"So, the job is very simple." She said, "Just go through as many files as you can and determine if the candidate is a Littleton or a Rathaway." She said, "I'll be back in a few hours to check on your progress." She said as she left Jeff alone in the room, taking quick looks at each one of them.

Littleton.

Rathaway.

Littleton.

Rathaway.

Littleton.

Rathaway.

"This isn't right…" Jeff said. He raised his head and started to look around. "There is a better way of doing this."[center] ******* [/center]

 

Linda was now taking care of one of the two cockatoos that were brought in there. This one had a very beautiful yellow crest, and it chirped as Linda handled its wings very carefully. She had learned that cockatoos needed very little grooming, and that they mostly did that themselves, unless they were stressed or sick.

Well, that cockatoo looked to be healthy, but still, it was good to do a thorough job. Linda used the special oil that was given to her to apply it very gently into the feather of that cockatoo. That oil imitated the one that cockatoos produced naturally on the base of their tails, and that they spread on their feather to nurture them and help them to grow. Doing this was important to make sure that the plumage of the cockatoo was healthy and beautiful.

Other than that, Linda just needed to check them for any parasite on their wings and skin, and to remove them if found. It was, indeed, proving to be an easy task, and she was actually liking it.

She had a smile on her face as she saw the cockatoo flap its wings at her, almost as if wanting to fly to perk on her horn.

"What a pretty bird." Linda said to the cockatoo, and it perked its neck and flared the crest, as if it was trying to show off, and saying. [i]"You betcha."[/i]

On the other side of the store, Alex was busy putting the cans of pet food in the shelves. All under the watchful gaze of another employer. The job was a bit tedious, but it was relatively easy, and it was not the kind of job with which Alex could have problems.

They both proved to be doing pretty well on their first tasks of their first day, and each one did, on their own amount, felt proud of it.[center] ******* [/center]

 

Outside of the pet store, the animals continued to move on their own, both by foot and by car. Among them, a familiar wolf was walking on the street with a paper bag on his paws as he walked right in front of the store, and looked in it, as if casually. No one would suspect that he was looking at something specific in there, especially since he had switched his police uniform by a set of casual clothing, with jeans pants and a red shirt.

After looking for a few moments, and sighting both the cougar and the gazelle, Wolfard turned around and continued to walk. He crossed the street, and walked to the car that was parked right by the corner of the street. He opened the door, and inside, there was a female tiger on the side of the driver. She too had changed her police uniform for casual clothes, on her case, a pair of white pants, a cyan blouse and a white jacket.

"Did someone ordered for some friend fish sticks?" He asked, offering her the paper bag, and she smiled at him. He entered the car and closed the door, and he opened the bag, to share the fish sticks with the tigress. They both saw in there as they ate, and they tried the best not to call attention.

They were not doing anything or looking at anyone. They were just a couple having an improvised date in particular.

They continued to eat the fish as they had their eyes turned to the direction of the store. Fangmeyer pulled a pair of small, discrete binoculars, and looked in direction to the store. It was easy to see the place from there, especially with those. Sure, they did not allow to look straight inside the store, but it was a good advantage point to look at.

They continued to eat, and Wolfard tried to make conversation.

"So… everything has been crazy these days, haven't it?"

"True." She said to him, and she continued to look for a few more moments, before closing the binoculars and going back to eat the fish sticks. "Everyone is still crazy about this thing of the 'meta mammals'. I mean, mammals with super powers living in secret between us? Man, is just like these sci-fi series, but this one in the real life."

"I'm counting the days until the first dude with a costume goes around." The wolf said. She laughed at him.

The two shared that laugh, and after a while, the subject became a little bit more serious.

"But… seriously, things really [i]are[/i] going crazy, right?" She asked him. "I mean, that Grooms guy screaming to who wants to hear that Hunter and others like him are dangerous."

"He is just a wacko."

"Yeah, but I'm afraid that other wackos like him might appear." She said to him. "Or maybe some wackos like the guy of the bank."

"The rhino?" the wolf asked, and the tigress nodded in agreement. Wolfard would be lying if he said that he didn't worried about that as well. That guy, the Rhinehart dude, he was dangerous, like few criminals had ever been able to.

"Yeah. The guy who almost send half of the guys of precinct one and our SWAT force flying just by waving his arm." She spoke to him. "And now there was this guy of Tundratown. The one that they said that could turn into gold, or something. They say that he killed someone."

"Yeah, I heard about that." Wolfard agreed. He had heard some about it, mostly just some rumors among the cops. Still, he was able to hear a few things that came from reliable sources, and these things were the kind that made a shiver run down his spine to the tip of his tail. "And both of them are still around there."

"And might be more of them." She said, and she looked at the wolf. "How many do you think can be around there? I mean, guys like these, who have super powers and who use them to break the law? For all we know, there might be guys out there who turn invisible to rape people, that go through walls to steal money, that can kill another mammal without even touching them… it kind of makes you think…"

"Yeah, it does…" The wolf said, and another silence followed this, and this one lasted for nearly two minutes, before Wolfard spoke again. "Well, I just know that if any of these guys ever try to hurt a girlfriend of mine, they will know just how hard a wolf can bite."

Fangmeyer chuckled at this, and she looked at him. "Oh, is that true, Michael Wolfard?" She asked to him, and he smiled back at her, and he said:

"Ellen Fangmeyer, you must know that we wolves are very protective in relation to the members of our packs. Which, of course, includes our own mates." He said that in a tone that was like he was reciting an important quote of some sacred book. "If anyone ever tries to harm the pack, then a wolf will defend their pack with teeth and claws until the very end. It is that how we have evolved, and is hardwired into our DNA."

"Well, it is good to know that wolves are so protective." She said, "It is endearing." She said, leaning on to nuzzle him gently. He smiled at this, and they separated as she looked at him with a smile in her muzzle. "You are just the sweetest guy."

"Yeah… I just wish that your brother would also think that." They both shared a small laugh, and after a while, they returned to the subject.

"But, seriously, if more guys like that start to appear, than we will need to get ready for this. Maybe a whole new section of training of the cops to know how to deal with mammals with super powers." Ellen spoke.

"I guess so." Michael said, "I think I heard someone at the precinct talking about starting a special task force that will focus on criminals with super powers."

"So, we will have a special force who deals with super villains? What will be the name? Unity Meta?"

"Maybe Super Pack." He said.

"That sounds like a rejected name for a comic book superhero team."

They both shared another laugh.[center] ******* [/center]

 

Jeff had left the room, and was now walking across the hallways in search for a few things…

Firstly, he got himself a small pushcart that he could use for the things that he needed. He was able to get it borrowed from a guy who was using to another thing, and he promised that he would not take too long, and he just needed it to carry things around.

After that, Jeff traveled with it across the hallways picking up other things. Some of them he could find lying around, and others he had to request to the people to get him. After a while, he had everything he would need.

There were five laptops that could access the internet into the cart. As well as a pair of scissors that were just right for the size of a mouse and a good quantity of adhesive notes of five different colors: green, blue, yellow, orange and red.

With all of that, Jeff moved back to the room, and once in there, he placed it all in the desk that was on that room and turned all of the laptops on. He picked up the two files of Littleton and Rathaway, and he started to take quick looks at them, and to look at the computers that he had turned on.

After a while of checking things, and looking back to the files, he said: "As I suspected..." He looked back at the files, and he picked two pieces of the oversized (for rodents like him) stick notes of red and green colors and the scissors to start to cut off pieces of them…[center] ******* [/center]

 

Alex sighed as he finished organizing the things on the shelves. After that was done, he was requested to help Linda and another employee, an ocelot named Oliver, to help take care of an iguana.

It was a new experience to Alex, and he had to learn the exact way of removing mites from the reptile, and it proved to be a little challenging.

However, it was still part of the job, and later they still had to clean up the small areas where the pets were kept while they waited for their owners to arrive. Not to mention that they also had to go here and there to do small tasks for the older employees. They also had to care for a batch of small geckos that were in the place, and these geckos actually behaved pretty much like puppies, something that Alex surely was not used to see. Linda found them to be irresistibly adorable, and she was never a reptile person.

It was all in a day's work.

Alex sighed as he was starting to find the world of Zootopia to be a very interesting place…[center] ******* [/center]

 

"Eleven thirty a.m., both Hunter and Thompson are still working." Michael said to a small recording device that he had brought. Ellen continued to look at the store with the discrete binoculars, as she and continued to watch on the store, keeping an eye for anything that would be worth being watched.

"You know, you would think that mammals who have superpowers would have an interesting daily life, but apparently, they don't do much…" Michael added. "And this makes you think… how different they actually are from mammals who don't have super powers? Do they put their legs on their pants one at the time? Do they like to eat the same things that other mammals do? Do they go to bathroom just like us so they can-"

"Michael." Ellen said to him.

"I was going to say brush their teeth." He said to her, turning off the recording device, and looking at her. "Seriously, this is kind of boring, isn't it?"

"What did you expected?" She asked. "That we would follow them to a telephone booth that is actually a hidden elevator that leads them to their underground base where they keep their super computers and their crime-fighting outfits, waiting for the mayor to light up that big holophote to create a symbol in the clouds with the shape of a lightning bolt?"

The wolf sighed. "I guess I at least expected it to be somewhat more agitated than the normal stake outs. I mean, the cougar shots lightning from his paws, and the gazelle can pin people to the wall with her mind. I was expecting them at least to find a job that would be somewhat interesting."

"Yeah, it seems that they are starting low." Ellen said, as she continued to look. "Maybe they want a common job, or maybe…" She said, but she stopped when she noticed something in front of the store. The fact that she had stopped made Michael get attentive.

"Ellen?"

"There is something…" She said as she continued to look. "An hippo… he stopped in front of the store, and is looking inside…" She said as she continued to look. "He is looking uncomfortable… nervous. He pulls something out of the pockets. An agenda and pen… he is writing something in there…"

She continued to look, and Michael was by her side as he tried to look attentively, but he was not able to see as well as her with her binoculars. However, it was easy to see the hippo in front of the store. He was wearing some kind of business suit, indigo in coloration, the kind of someone who would work in an office. He had a briefcase by his side, one that he was probably carrying with himself and had put down to pull out the agenda and the pen.

"Okay… he is tapping on the door… someone came to see him… it's not Hunter neither Thompson… He talks a bit with the one who attended him… he gives the paper he just wrote… the guy nods, and he goes back inside… the hippo rushes away… well, I guess that is it…" She said, and she turned to Michael.

"Think it is important?" Michael said, and she shrugged.

"Maybe… maybe not. You know how this stake out goes." She said to him. "Let's keep watch and make sure we note everything down. If we see that hippo again… well, let's see where this goes…"[center] ******* [/center]

 

"I never imagined that geckos could eat that much." Alex said as he looked at the empty can that he was holding, and that previously was filled with something called "<strong>chocoflies</strong>". The geckos now seemed to be satisfied, and they were now laying in the small basket that had been provided for them, sprawled over each other just like kittens…

Okay, that comparison seemed strange when the one who thought it was actually a feline himself…

"Guess… they were hungry." Alex said, and Linda gently passed a single hooved finger over them as they slept.

"They are just precious…" She said, and Alex nodded. It was hard to argue with that as the small animals seemed that they were purposely trying to be adorable.

"Hey, Hunter." Someone said, approaching him. It was the ocelot again. "Someone left this on the door for you… a hippo." He said as he gave a small folded note, and he took it. Alex unfolded the note, and he saw something written in it with a calligraphy that he didn't recognized.


  <strong>YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT</strong>



  <strong>YOU SHOULD'T HAVE EXPOSED US</strong>



  <strong>WE MIGHT ALL BE IN DANGER NOW</strong>



  <strong>YOU DIDN'T HAD THE RIGHT</strong>


There was no signature in it, and Alex continued to look at it. Linda looked at him and approached to look over his shoulder. She saw what was written in the note, and she looked at Alex, who looked back at her.

"Who left this?" Alex asked.

"An hippo that was on the door, he just asked me to give it to 'the puma who is inside'. He didn't leave a name or anything."

Alex looked at Linda again, and he started to walk in direction to the door.

Once outside, Alex looked to the sides, and he saw other animals on the street, but none of them seemed a hippo. Alex looked to the sides, as he looked at the note again.


  <strong>YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE EXPOSED US</strong>


That line was the one that affected him the most. For he knew that there was only one meaning for this. He continued to look around, trying to sight the hippo who could have left that in there. He saw no one around, and he continued and barely noticed that Linda had also come out, and she placed a hoof on his shoulder.

Alex looked at her, and she had an expression that told him everything. Alex looked at her, and at the note one more time. Soon, they both were walking back into the store, not noticing the mammals watching them inside of a car…[center] ******* [/center]

 

"… and these must be send now." Ms. Mizell spoke to the assistant who just picked up the papers and nodded as he moved away from her, walking in direction to another part of the hallway, as she sighed, and she turned to walk in direction to the coffee machine.

Upon arriving, she meets a familiar, bigger animal in there, taking coffee from a cup on her own, taking care not to burn her mouth with the hot beverage.

"Christine." Ms. Mizzel said, making the chinchilla look back at her.

"Angela." Mrs. Chinchilla said to her as she approached, picking up a cup and serving herself of some coffee.

"Rough day?" The chinchilla asked, and the wood mouse sighed.

"Yeah, it seems that the city is going upside down ever since that cougar came around." The wood mouse said. "Some mammals are desperate. Some are scared. Some are thrilled. Some are trying to turn this into a way of making money. You know the drill."

"Yeah, somethings never do change." Chinchilla said.

"Yes… what about Small?" She asked.

"I left him to organize and catalog the files of possible employers." Chinchilla said. "It is a simply job, and I think anyone can manage to do that."

"He seemed to be smart."

"Let's see if he is by the time when I go back." She said, looking at her watch. "Which I think it is time now." She said as she turned around, and she even turned to Mizell, and asked: "Would you like to see how he did?"

"Yeah, I have some free time." She said, and they both started to walk in direction to the right hallway that would lead to the room where Chinchilla left Small.

"How long has he been in there?" Mizell asked.

"Four hours."

"Twice as much as you gave to the others." She said, and she looked at the bigger mammal. "Think he might actually be done by now?"

"I doubt it." Chinchilla said. "There are the files of nearly a thousand candidates in there. He alone would take at least one week to go through all of them. It is not the kind of job he can do on his own in just four hours. After all, we have a special team just for that. The only reason I do that is to evaluate the ones who they classified and decide if they are capable of making competent decisions."

They continued to walk, until they were in front of the door.

"So, let's see how Small did." Chinchilla said as she pushed the doors open.

The room looked somewhat different from when she had last left, and she knew what it was… The room was in the most perfect and absolute order, with stacks of files perfectly organized. Small was on a desk that he separated for himself, and he had some files in front of him, he looked at them as they came in, and he smiled.

"Mrs. Chinchilla! Good to see you back! And Ms. Mizell too! What a pleasant surprise!" He said, as he got up, holding two files on his hands. "You arrived just in time. I have just finished with the files."

The two women looked at him surprised.

"Y-you finished [i]all[/i] the files?" Chinchilla asked, barely believing it to be true. There was no way that the mouse had actually went through it all so effectively in just four hours. No one could do that!

"Yeah, I did." Jeff said, "Also, I hope you don't mind, but I actually made a few observations on the files and added some small things in them. I found that there was some information that you might have missed." He said, showing to her the files he had. First, he showed one that was marked with a strip of red adhesive note on the front.

"This, for example." He said, and he opened the file, letting them see the picture of a familiar hamster. "Nathaniel Littleton. 36 years. Married and with two children. Ex-manager of a company. He was laid off due to what was listed as 'personal reasons', something strange to add in an official document."

Chinchilla looked at him, and so did Mizell, since none of them said a thing, Jeff decided just to continue. "Well, this has got me suspicious, so I made a little research of my own. I discovered that more than once, Littleton has been part of support groups of compulsive gamblers. These groups are very discrete, and the last one was roughly one year ago, and at some point he stopped participating in events. I'm pretty sure that he went back to gambling, and also, I watched the monetary area of the industry that he managed, and I discovered that there were some cases of problems with the money of the company during the time when he was working for them, and that after he was 'laid off', these problems seemed to have stopped."

"Not that I want to soil to honor of anyone, but it seems that there is a connection, doesn't it?" She said as he looked at them. Chinchilla snatched the file from his hand, and she took a look at it. Meanwhile, Jeff continued. "So, I have the very strong suspicion that Littleton being laid off was actually an excuse of the company. After all, if they admitted publically that such an employer of them was stealing money from the company to pay off his gambling debts, it would surely look bad for them. They wanted to avoid bad publicity, and they decided not to press any charges or to make any fuss out of it, probably in exchange of Littleton never mentioning a word about the true reasons of the end of his job for them…"

Chinchilla continued to look at the file, and she saw the small notes and also other papers that Small had added. She looked at the mouse, almost as if he was a being of another planet. Jeffrey continued with his explanation.

"Of course, during the time when I was making this research, I also noticed something that was quite unsettling about him." Jeffrey continued. "I noticed that he seems to spend a good deal of his money on alcoholic beverages." He said, "You see, I managed to have a little access to some bills on his name, and a good deal of beverages is in there. It is a quantity considered meaningless to a bigger mammal, but for a hamster… well, you can guess. Also, there is the fact that he and his wife no longer live together. It turns out that during the past years she has been laying in the hospital a few times with some kinds of bruises on her face and also some wounds that were never properly explained."

As he said that, Chinchilla looked through the file, and she saw the things that Small had talked about. It seemed that they had been researched on the mouse's own accord, and it seemed that it pointed that in fact, Mrs. Littleton had been in the hospital quite some times.

"More recently, one of her children landed in the hospital with a broken arm. Right after that, she left his home and took the children with her." Jeff said, "Well, it seems that she finally got tired of the fits of rage of a drunk rodent."

Chinchilla continued to look at the things that Small had found. There were not medical records, or anything that you would need a legal warrant to get. They were things like images take from MuzzleBook, or other things from the internet, like photographs from his wife, who had bruises on her face, and some printed areas with comments of the people in there. There was also a picture of a young hamster girl with an arm in the sling.

She felt a feeling of sickness that rose from her stomach as she saw these images, and she was coming to the logic conclusion…

How did they miss that!?

"Of course, I took the liberty to make a call to the authorities, telling them about my suspicions. It was anonymous, of course." He said, and after a few moments, he decided to change to something else.

"On the other end of the spectrum." Jeff said, showing another file, this one had a strip of green adhesive note on the front, and Jeff seemed to be considerably more positive about it as he opened it, letting them see the picture of a rat in it.

"Andrew Rathaway. 27 years old. Worked previously in a drive thru. Fired for 'problems to interact with others'." Jeff said to them, and he started to explain. "However, I saw a few postings on MuzzleBook of the time when he was fired, and I discovered that, during that day, there was a patron of the place who was being extremely inconvenient with a waitress in there." Jeff flipped the pages to show a few images that were taken from the internet. "It seems that he was touching her in an inappropriate way, and Rathaway didn't liked that. He gave the guy two punches in the face. That was when he was fired."

The two women continued to look at him. "His mother, Seraphina Rathaway is currently on a treatment for a rare disease, disease this that made her drop her job. Around the same time, Rathaway dropped his university and got a fulltime job." Jeffrey explained. "His mother is still fighting the disease, and she sometimes needs to be taken to the hospital very quickly, and this, as you see, can sometimes lead to her son to have to drive her quickly to there, in what others can call 'dangerous driving'."

He offered the file to Chinchilla, who took it and looked at what Small had showed in there. They also seemed like things that one could get without any need for a warrant. "Mrs. Rathaway's disease is one that requires some specific medicines, the kinds that you can only get if you have the prescription of a doctor, otherwise you can't even get close to it." He continued explain. "Some of these substances can, actually, be classified as 'controlled', and possession of them can be considered illegal if you don't have the prescription for it."

After a few moments, Jeffrey said: "It is really admirable of him, isn't it? He dropped his university to have a job to help his sick mother, drives her to the hospital and also picks her medicine for her…"

Chinchilla looked over the file, again and again. She looked at Jeff, and for a long time, it seemed that she wanted to say something, but she had forgotten how to talk.

"May I?" Jeff asked her, gently picking the files back, and he walked around the desk, where three other files were in there, in line, with a blue-yellow-orange order for the colors in them. "So, I know that it is a little different from what you usually do in here, but I put on my own ranking systems for the candidates based on this kind of research, which I did to all of them, by the way." Jeff said, as he looked at the two women.

"This way, I chose to use a system of coloration to classify them, going from the green…" Jeff said, showing them the green file of Rathaway. "… for the safest ones to be hired." He placed it on the file, before the blue file. "All the way down to red…" He showed the file of Littleton, and placed it on the opposite end of the line. "… for the completely undesirable."

He finished, and he just stood in there, and the two women just looked at him as if he had grown a second head. After a few moments, Jeffrey just said, "Feel free to look at them yourself if you want. So, did I do well on my first assignment?" he finished the question with his best friendly smile.[center] ******* [/center]

 

"Who do you think left the note?" Linda asked to Alex as they both were sitting on a table of a restaurant, one that was nearby their workplace. It was around noon, and it was the time for their break for lunch. Most of the other workers had brought their own lunch with them, but some had opted to go out to find themselves lunch somewhere else. Linda and Alex were among them, and they had chosen a close place that served food for both predator and prey. In there, they were talking about that strange note that Alex had received…

"I don't know…" Alex said. "I don't recognize the calligraphy." He continued to look at the note, which seemed to have been written by someone who didn't liked what he did.

"Could it be from some of the others?" Lind asked.

"Maybe…" Alex said, "It seems that one of them didn't liked me of making us public…"

"Are you going to order?" Said a donkey waiter as he looked at both of them. Alex and Linda both looked at him.

"Oh, yes!" Alex said, picking up the menu and quickly scanning. "I'll have the tuna special."

"I'll go for the king's style salad." Linda said, and the donkey nodded at them as he wrote down and turned to walk away.

Alex looked at him as he left. "Have you noticed that horses, zebras and donkeys have hooves instead of hands?"

"Yeah, I kind of did." Linda said.

"How was he holding the pen?"[center] ******* [/center]

 

Alex and Linda barely noticed the animals on the other side of the street, sitting into a nearby café, as they both tried to look inconspicuous and to watch the two mammals at the same time.

"So, I'll have the bugloaf, and some nice fish for the lady." Michael said as he ordered, the cheetah waiter noted down the orders and turned to leave as he said that their orders would be "ready soon". The wolf looked at the tigress, and she looked back at him as she said:

"If you think this counts as the dinner you promised me, you are sadly mistaken. I want something at candle light."

He smiled at her. She causally looked to the side, to the mammals who were sitting on the other side of the street. Hunter and Thompson were talking among themselves, and they seemed to almost be whispering, as if they were talking about some secret. This caught her interest slightly. She couldn't make lip reading from that distance, and she could not pull out her binoculars and use them without calling too much attention, what was the exact point of doing stakeouts.

"I wish I was a fly so I could go near them and hear what they are saying." She said casually.

"I wish you would focus on me instead of them." Michael said, smiling at her and making her look back at him. "Seriously, having your girlfriend paying attention to someone else while you are in a table with her is kind of a blow into a male's pride."

"Another wolf thing?"

"It is a [i]male[/i] thing." Michael said. "Just ask anyone."

"Yeah, maybe I should." She said to him, "It would be nice to meet other guys who have interesting things to talk about."

"Har, har." Michael said, and he seemed a bit hurt by that comment.

"Oh, no need to become a grumpy doggy." She said playfully, as she scratched the head of the considerably smaller mammal between his ears. "I swear you are too sensible about certain things sometimes."

"Well, you [i]wanted[/i] to date a wolf, right?" Michael asked her. "We come with our own perks."

"Yeah, and I wouldn't trade them for anything else in the world." She said, as she leaned over to kiss him in the nose, and Michael could feel his face and ears heating in a blush, as his tail started to wag involuntarily.

The orders were brought soon, and the two cops ate their food as they had an eye on the mammals on the other side of the street, who also were eating their food and seemed to be talking about a few things.

After nearly fifteen minutes, the animals finished their meals, and after a while more, Hunter and Thompson both got up and started to walk back to their workplace. As if on cue, the tigress and wolf both got up and left some money on the table to pay for their bill, as they walked back to their car, which was their stakeout spot.[center] ******* [/center]

 

The rest of the day passed rather quickly and in a somewhat monotonous way. Organizing food. Grooming birds. Picking up ticks and other small parasites from pets. Giving food to the small reptiles. Cleaning up the cages. Giving bath to an iguana (no kidding). The kinds of things that you did in a pet shop in Zootopia.

At the end of the day, at four p.m., both Alex and Linda were ready to go back home and rest.

"Well, I guess that is it." Lambert said to both of them as he came to announce that their shift was officially over. "I heard that you two did pretty well for the first time working in a pet shop." He had a friendly smile as he spoke that, and the other two mammals smiled at him as he said that. "If you two keep like that I'm pretty sure that you two will be hired by the end of the week."

He spoke that, and the two mammals nodded at him. Soon, they were going to the back to change back to their casual clothes, and soon, they both were walking out of the store.

"Well, that went well." Linda said to him.

"Yeah, it sure did."

"It would not be bad to work in there every day, would it?" She said. "I surely like taking care of the pets."

"Yeah, it is a good job." Alex said, "It is honest, at least. Even though I would not be looking forward to cleaning the mess of the pets." Alex said, and Linda was able to chuckle at him. They started to walk down the street, and they didn't notice that there was a car following them as they walked.

"You know, I'm still thinking about that note." Alex said. "I'm wondering just who was the one who left it…"

"Well…" Linda said, approaching him and whispering. "It was surely someone from our world, right?"

"I guess so." Alex said, and he looked around. "We should get back in home to talk about it… And we should talk to Jeff…"

Linda only nodded in agreement, and they continued to walk in silence, neither of them noticing that there was a car that was still following them.

Once they arrived, they walked upstairs to their apartment, and they could already hear some indistinct yelling coming from there.

"Bucky and Pronk are home." Linda said, and Alex groaned.

"I hate how thin those walls are. They can hear things we say even if we whisper. We have no privacy." He spoke, and Linda was forced to agree with him. She didn't felt much comfortable in a place where the neighbors could easily hear to their conversations, and also to their… personal affairs.

As they walked closer, they could hear their voices more clearly.

"I told you I'm not doing dinner tonight!"

"Come on! I had a hard day at work! Two drunkards nearly started a fight!"

"I told you that I would not cook!"

"I'm hungry!"

"Then pick up the phone and order some food! I'm not cooking!"

"Well, I know that [i]I[/i] am not going to cook!"

"Good! Last time you tried you almost put us both in the hospital!"

"Oh, shut up!"

"No, you shut up"

"NO, YOU SHUT UP!"

"NO, [i]YOU[/i] SHUT UP!"

"These two never get tired of it?" Alex asked as he walked and unlocked the door. The yelling continued as they seemed to be arguing about dinner, a conversation that soon seemed to stitch to career.

"Man, they surely are spirited." Linda said as she whispered to her boyfriend. This whispering being covered by the yelling of the two mammals, who seemed to not yet have noticed that they had just arrived. It was good, they didn't want to be bothered.

"Yeah, I'll say." Alex whispered back, wincing as he heard a sound as if one of them had punched the wall hard, as if to make emphasis to what he had just said. It was soon followed by another sound, as if the other had did exactly the same thing to put emphasis on what [i]he[/i] just said.

"So, we call Jeff?"

"Better tomorrow." Alex said, as he looked back at the wall, and he was hearing the two mammals on the other side yelling to each other to "shut up" as they slammed the wall…[center] ******* [/center]

 

"That was a nice day." Jeff said to himself as he walked across the street. Smiling to himself knowing that he had positively impressed both Mizell and Chinchilla with his work.

The wood mouse seemed to be really impressed by his efficiency and Chinchilla seemed to have really liked his classification style (he had once saw it in an episode of a series back in the Human World), and she seemed as if she was going to adopt it from that day on.

He smiled to himself as he walked across the street, and he soon was going back to the place he had found for his own home. All the while, he took a look on the world around him, a world that was, by what all would indicate, his new and permanent reality.

He took a notice that many things that he saw in there had a way of them that made it look as if they were puns of things back in the Human World. This only added to how curious this new world was, and while it could very well by a mere coincidence, he had a feeling like this existence was somehow tied to the actual human world, as if it was all an alternate reality that was derived from their world.

Or that, or maybe Jeff had been reading to many comic books.

Still, it was hard not to notice all the "puns" around as he walked in there. It was interesting, to say the least, and he found it to be a part of this world that he would look into more deeply on his personal time. As he walked, he walked back in direction to the place he had found for himself, in a darker and poorer par of Little Rodentia, where most mammals would not exactly want to go. That was the place where things were dirtier and where some windows had bars on them, to keep the drug users outside.

Most mammals in there did not smiled like Jeffrey was smiling when he walked into his building, and neither did they whistled like he was whistling. So, Jeff did attract a little attention as he walked inside of the building, and one of these was a rat who looked at the smaller rodent.

Jeff noticed the look of the rat, and he smiled to him. "I found myself a job." He said simply, and he walked inside, ignoring the hiss of the rat as he walked to his new temporary home. He walked up the stairs, and as he did, he suddenly felt like his left leg was weak. It almost felt as if it was trembling slightly.


  [i]Oh crap.[/i]


Jeff started to walk up the stairs a little faster, and he was already regretting having gotten an apartment that was so high up.

He arrived on the fourth floor, and he was walking in direction to his own apartment, and he put a hand on his pocket to fish the key, and as he approached, his hand was trembling slightly. He was trying to fit the key on the hole when someone said.

"Mr. Small."

He turned to look at a black mouse wearing casual clothes. It was the landlord, the one who owned that building and to who Jeff was supposed to pay his rent.

"Mr. Mouser! Good evening!" Jeff said, and the black mouse looked back at him.

"So, you have spent most of the day out. I was starting to think that you were not going to come back."

"Oh, I was just out for my job."

"Didn't you said that you didn't had a job?" Mouser asked him.

"Well, I do have now. I just finished a little experience in my job and I'm pretty sure that I'll be officially hired by tomorrow." Jeff said to him, smiling as he thought [i]Now let me go into my home[/i].

"Oh, that is really good." Mouser said to him. "It means that you will pay me in the end of the month, right?"

"If everything goes well, yes, I will." Jeffrey said. "Anyway, I don't plan on staying here for more than a month. Not that this building isn't a nice place to live in, it is just that I want a place that is closer to my work and more on the center of the city. You understand, right?"


  [i]Now let me get inside.[/i]


"Yeah, I guess so." He said, and Jeff nodded as he fit the key in the hole, and he was about to twist it when Mouser asked: "So, what kind of job did you found yourself?"


  [i]Oh, come on![/i]


"Oh, it is a job with personnel." Jeff said to him. "I'll be helping the people with the candidates for new jobs. It is a nice job, actually. I just need to look into their backgrounds in search for any pineapples on horses' tails."

"What?" Mouser asked with a raised eyebrow.


  [i]Crap! I need to go in![/i]


"What? Oh, no nothing! I guess I'm just tired. I spent hours looking into files and I need to rest." Jeff said.


  [i]So just leave me alone![/i]


"Yes, I understand. Well, good night, Mr. Small." He said and turned around.

"Goodnight, Mr. Mouser." Jeff said, with a friendly smile on his face, and he calmly opened the door, walked inside, and he closed it again.

As soon as the door was locked, Jeff let out a ragged breath as he supported himself in the door. His legs felt almost like they were of jelly and lead at the same time.


  [i]Keep it together. Keep it together…[/i]


Jeff panted as he rushed as he could across the apartment, but his footing was not very good. He managed to make it to the single bedroom of that house, and he was able to dive under the bed to fish out his luggage.

He opened it and he started to dig through it, throwing clothes and other things in the luggage around without any care as he searched for something. He finally found it, a small purse of black coloration, and opening it, he let the contents fall on the ground.

A band of elastic. A syringe. Two vials containing some strange liquid.

Jeff stopped for a moment as he looked at it. He shook his head as he blinked madly. He slapped his own face, slumping against the bed. He looked to the objects and he reached for them.

He picked the strand of elastic and tied it around his arm, cutting off the circulation. It took only a few seconds for the veins on his arm start to stand out against his skin. The fur made it harder to find them, but Jeff managed to.

Holding the elastic with his mouth, Jeff picked the syringe and one of the vials, and soon, the syringe was filling with the fluid of the vial. But it was not easy, because his hands were shaking madly. After a while, Jeff was pointing the thing to his arm, and he soon pierced his skin with the syringe, right into the vein.

His ears and tail twitched madly as he felt the sting, he always hated it. Still, he took it as he pressed the syringe and injected the liquid right into his veins.

With this, Jeff untied the elastic band and let the blood on his arm start to flow again. He leaned back as he used his small fingers to press the puncture place on his skin, and he just laid there.


  [i]One elephant. Two Elephants. Three Elephants… Twenty elephants…[/i]


Jeff opened his eyes, taking a deep breath and sighing, feeling a relief washing over his body as he was able to relax.

He looked at his arm, and he knew that he had to keep his fingers in there for a few more moments.


  [i]I need to stop waiting for so long before each dose.[/i]


He looked at the syringe and vials that were on the floor near him.


  [i]Well, if I increase the dosage for once every twenty-four hours, I guess it will last for two more weeks. It will be enough for me to get the money I'll need to make more.[/i]


Jeff sighed, and after a while more, he finally let go of his arm and started to pick up the things. First he placed the vials, syringe and elastic band back into the purse.


  [i]I also need to find a good place to hide this.[/i]


Next, he started to pick his clothes and organize them. As he did, he could not avoid the feeling of guilt that was installing in his heart…[center] ******* [/center]

 

"7:30 A.M., still all quiet…. Save for that yelling that is coming from the open window." Michael Wolfard said in the small recording device as he and Ellen Fangmeyer were both on their car, still with their casual clothes, and both of them were still on their special mission as they looked at the building. Their hearing was sensitive enough for them to pick up the yelling that was coming from the open window on the first floor.

"[i]You need to stop making so many sandwiches! It is one of the reasons why we are running low on money!"[/i]


  [i]"I need to eat! You know that!"[/i]



  [i]"Maybe you should make a diet! It wouldn't kill you to lose one pound, or five!"[/i]



  [i]"Oh, shut up!"[/i]



  [i]*BAM*[/i]



  [i]"No! You shut up!"[/i]



  [i]*BAM*[/i]


"Should we be worried about this?" Ellen asked as she looked up at the open window. Michael just shrugged.

"These must be the Oryx-Antlersons. Hopps told us about them, remember? Anyway, even if she hadn't, there are some story about them on the ZPD. It seems that there were already some calls on order disturbance and even over domestic violence about these two, but none of it ever lead anywhere." The wolf spoke. "These two seem to be wackos. But they are harmless. Well, at least they never truly hurt anyone, including each other."

The tigress nodded, and they continued to hear the argument that these two were having, but their attention was focused on the other window that was right by the side. They had been watching on that window for a while, as if they were there only to keep watch on Hunter and Thompson, and this included keeping an eye on the place they lived, and to keep an eye open for anything strange that could come.

Even if they didn't knew exactly what it would be.

They continued in there for a while, looking at the window that was open, and they continued to look in there. However, it seemed that nothing more was going to happen.

"So, what about we call it a night?" Wolfard said. "I mean, we still need to eat, right?"

"Maybe… but what if- Oh!" Ellen started to say, but she stopped once she saw someone else walking in the street. A familiar bunny that was walking down the street in direction to her home.

"Okay, time to go." Ellen said, and she started the car, driving away as Hopps came closer.

As the car passed, the bunny's ears twitched and moved in direction to the moving car. She twisted her head to look at the car that was driving away, and she had a raised eyebrow as she looked at it go.

The two mammals in the car barely noticed, and they continued to drive, and Ellen sighed as she continued to drive.

"Man, that was close." She said, "If Hopps saw us stalking her home we would have to answer some difficult questions."

"Yeah, so, I guess that we will be really calling it a night then." The wolf said, "Well, since we did, what about that dinner?"

She looked at him, and she had a smile on her face. "What? Already?"

"Yeah, if you want." Michael said with a seductive smile. "My place or yours?"

She smiled at him, and she smiled. "Yours. My brother is spending a few days at my home while they paint his apartment. We would not want him walking on us, would we?"

"Oh, great Fenrir! No." Wolfard said, dreading the idea, and Ellen could only laugh at him as she continued to drive away…