TIME & TIED: DESTRUCTION

ARC 3.4 - Without

PART 70a: WOODLANDS OMENS 1

Slowly, the woodland creatures came out of hiding.

"What do you think about that?” Frank asked.

"Mindy's got a nice back end, for a human?" Lee offered.

"Okay, pretty sure Frank’s referring to the fact that there's totally a TRAITOR among us!" Chartreuse wailed.

Lee shrugged. “Trying to lighten the mood."

“Don’t. Now is the time to get serious," Corry growled. “Because if one of us is feeding these humans lies, telling them things that will lead to us losing our powers within a week? That's a MAJOR problem."

"It can’t be one of us. Whoever the traitor is, they already knew about this clearing having ties to the magical effects," Julie noted. She again pulled out a file to use on her claws. “Remember, that Shady guy implied it was their dumping here that caused a neutralizing effect."

"Hey, any of us could have known more about this clearing than what we've said," Luci said, glancing about suspiciously. "The question is, why would anyone want us forest creatures to go all ‘Mundane’?”

"Unless the traitor knows of a way to keep themselves immune," Carrie suggested. "And they're hoping to use their own sentience to rule over the rest of us."

Everyone's eyes shifted towards the fox and bear. "Oh great, predators being persecuted again," Julie grumped, twitching her tail.

“Everyone, stop. Finger pointing doesn't do us any good," Clarke said. "We need proof to make an accusation."

Laurie raised her paw. "Why can't we ask the humans which animal is working with them?"

Her brother sighed. “Laurie, approaching humans is not wise, they don’t know we’re - oh, wait, that one guy implied they keep records. Maybe we could obtain some of his company’s files? That might tell us something."

"We'd have to go into town for that though," Frank pointed out, beginning to pace. "And the longer we're out of the forest, the more the magic fades too. Then if we're caught, we'd lose everything."

"Someone could do it if they already knew the specific bases of operations used by these particular humans," Lee noted. “Sneak in, sneak out, real quick-like.”

“So Glen could do it," Carrie realized. “As a raccoon, he's spent some of his evenings skulking about in town. If anyone knows the layout, it'd be him."

"But what if he's the traitor?"

"Oh, Frank, stop accusing Glen of things already,” Carrie sighed, turning and slamming her mallet down on his head in exasperation.

"Carrie, I, like, said that," Chartreuse noted, waving a wing at the bunny as Frank fought to keep his balance. “I’m worried about you."

“Carrie, you need to stop hitting on my boyfriend!" Luci declared, swinging her own hammer at Carrie. Carrie blocked with her mallet... then both objects simply disappeared. Both Carrie and Luci blinked at each other in surprise.

"The magic problem gets worse the longer we’re here,” Clarke decided. “We need to go. Let's at least see what Glen turns up, that could give us a starting point. Okay?"

Everyone present exchanged glances and nods. “And as a show of good faith, maybe Glen can grab me some of that aspirin stuff while he's in town?” Frank mumbled, his eyes still spinning.

***

"Crazy other animals," Glen grumbled as he scampered down the alleyway. “Talking to me as if I didn’t know it's been four days - they didn't expect me to know where that Shady and Mindy were right away, did they?"

The raccoon peered out onto the darkened street and then headed down towards the part of town where the warehouses were located. "For a small town, it's sure trying to work towards having more industry," Glen observed.

The raccoon boy soon found a hole in the fencing around the complex, and squeezed through. "Now, let's see,” he sighed. “That paper I found in Shady's trash yesterday, it said Linquist was using Warehouse 3... hopefully I can find something in there to appease them.”

As it turned out, the warehouse was locked, but a few smashes on the padlock with a large rock allowed Glen to gain access.

"Hmmmm," Glen murmured as he scanned the interior - not much larger than your average sized human apartment. "If I know these humans, there'll be a... yup, right over there."

He hurried over to the corner that held the video surveillance equipment, and after giving it a look, he wound the tape back to erase his presence. He then pulled out his magical magnet and waved it over the devices for good measure. If it was strong enough to attract a garbage can? It was probably strong enough to mess with their electronics.

"At least the town's still small enough to have lousy security,” Glen muttered. “That Shady probably installed it in here himself. Still, it's possible that there's a silent alarm too, so I should work fast."

The raccoon turned to start a quick search of the bins and filing cabinets, pausing as a file out in the open caught his attention. Sitting right next to the TV monitor, it was labelled 'Security Breach 08/22/88'.

"Yesterday?" Glen mused. He flipped open the folder and smiled at what he saw. “Oho! Well then, it would seem we've found our traitor."

***

"It's, like, ridiculous, having to be up this early," Chartreuse yawned as she looked out at the lake. "The sun's barely up. Why can't Glen stay up later, rather than, you know, waking us earlier?"

“Have you forgotten time is of the essence?" Corry grunted. "Hell, last night I couldn't get my yardstick to stay around long enough to take a precise measurement!"

"He's trying to install new drapes in our cave," Laurie explained brightly. "The old ones are so drab, even if they do compliment the existing decor so well. Soon we may even get a window to go with them too though looking at your faces I'm probably acting too perky for the hour so I should shut up now, should I?"

"It's not THAT early," Carrie insisted. "I've been up at this hour to meet with Glen before. We've watched sunrises together, it was romantic."

"Hm, speaking of romantic, has anyone seen Luci?" Frank asked. "She seemed to disappear after yesterday morning's meeting."

"I'm sure she'll be along," Julie replied, back to filing her claws. "Unless she's the traitor, that is." She grinned at Frank, who frowned back.

"Well, hey, let's just hope Glen has a stronger lead today, okay?" Lee put in. “Cuz infighting gives me a worse headache than the ones Frank gets from not reacting to Carrie in time."

A silence fell upon the group. It wasn’t long before Glen hurried out of the treeline and headed towards the water’s edge.

"Glen!" Carrie cried out happily, her bunny ears quivering. “Have you brought us good news at last?"

"Well, I have news," Glen said, holding up a folder of papers. "It'll be good for some, not so good for others."

“Meaning what?” Clarke asked.

“Meaning we've got our traitor," Glen explained. He flipped open the folder, and tossed a picture out onto the grass. Everyone leaned in for a closer look. Then Corry made a lunge for Julie.

"Get her!" the bear snarled as Julie rolled away, firing her nail file at him. It grazed by Corry's ear.

Coming up on all fours, Julie then made a leap towards the trees, only to have the flickering forms of a broom and a tennis racquet crisscross in front of her. She hesitated only momentarily at Lee and Frank before making a move to dodge, but that moment was enough to allow her to be brought up short by a yank from behind.

"Ow ow ow ow!" Julie shrieked, falling onto the ground. "The tail is attached, you know!"

"Consider it retribution for all the times you've salivated over me and my kind," Carrie shot back. "Now it's time for a rabbit to put YOU on a hotplate."

"Again with the persecution," Julie said, turning her head, eyes flashing. "You have no evidence that I'm the traitor! So I've been in a human warehouse, so what?"

"So," Glen said, clearing his throat, "you know more than what you've been telling. I also turned up THESE files--" He paused to toss some more pages on the ground. "--which show an agreement between Linquist and an unnamed co-conspirator to do the dumping in that clearing. Unless I'm very much mistaken, that top document has your paw print on it."

"What??" Julie shrieked.

"I always knew you were a sly fox, Julie," Corry said, glaring at her while rubbing his ear. "But I never realized how low you'd stoop to get your own way around here."

“I should have guessed," Carrie said, bitterly. "I bet she made friends with me only to secure the bunny vote in our part of the forest. I should have KNOWN she'd betray us." She took firmer hold of the tail in her paw and twisted it.

“OW, will you CUT THAT OUT?" Julie said, glaring at the rabbit. "For the moment, I'm not going anywhere! And fine, I'll admit that I’ve started doing a little covert work with that human Mindy. But it was only to discover what was really going on around here."

“You started working with Mindy?” Clarke gasped. “Without telling me?”

“Hmph, well, even ignoring how Mindy's still somehow a factor, that, you know, doesn’t explain this contract," Chartreuse said, holding it out.

“Yeah, well, Mindy did make me put my paw on something,” Julie admitted, peering at the sheet. “For her own protection. But that wasn’t it. I’ve never seen that document before.”

"And what's the reason for the security photo?" Frank asked.

“Damn it, Frank, Mindy gave me the key to their warehouse the other evening. I went looking for files relating to the dumping. But that redheaded human said nothing about surveillance equipment being on. Don’t you get it?” Julie bared her teeth. “Someone’s set me up!"