Vinyan City police didn't believe their story. No arguing, no nothing, not even allowed to talk anymore, Scotch and his friends were taken into custody. Not only that, but they found out that they were on a 'wanted' list by Halfhuman police. Scotch knew it had to be Trinity's doing. Morgan damn Trinity was trying to catch them and do only the moons know what to them.

"We're toast," Mason whispered.

"I can do with some toast," Scotch whispered back as his wrists were put in cuffs.

"Shut up, wrenches!" the male Human with orange hair said.

"Could ya maybe tell us why the police want us?" Ginger said with a smile as they cuffed her.

Orange Hair laughed. "Lookin' all innocent, are we? Criminals. You know what you did."

A yellow-haired male exited the boxy white building that stood before them. "Sir, I got them on the line, they're coming in an hour," he said and then stared at Scotch, specifically his wrist where his Human skin was showing through.

"What're ya lookin' at?" Scotch narrowed his eyes.

"What's his name?" Yellow Hair asked Orange Hair as if Scotch wasn't there.

"Scotch Borrecki," Orange Hair said.

"Really." Yellow Hair stared some more and shrugged. Then he went around to help take them all into the police facility that was right at the entrance to the city. Vinyan City had a wall around it like Bairenshire, but there was a circular tunnel leading into the center of the city through the concrete wall. 

It was in this tunnel that a police office sat and the boxy building was wedged into the wall, practically built into the tunnel. Or the tunnel could have been built around the square building. As they went across the tunnel to the other side, Scotch glimpsed the innards of Vinyan.

Pointy. Everything was pointy. Pointy glass buildings, pointy stone buildings, and triangular houses like a strange kind of forest. It was all white and nearly blinding under the early morning light. They should be far enough from any portal still, but it seems the First Ring just had fast time somehow.

How ever that works. Scotch nearly bumped his head on the doorframe when he turned back.

Thirty minutes later, Scotch's wrists were released, and he was in his own holding room, sitting at a table with a black-haired female Human across from him. She was tapping her pen against the table.

Tap, tap, tap.

His ears twitched at each sound. It irked him. They had been sitting like this for five minutes without saying anything. He didn't dare speak though. You never spoke against the police. She glanced at the glass window and nodded. Scotch couldn't see anything, but he knew her boss or someone must be outside watching. They probably also had speakers or something in here to pick up the sound. They would be hearing everything he said, maybe even record it.

"You and your friends, last night, tried to seize a Human settlement. Five Humans died." She spoke as if these were the facts, and she was relaying them to him.

"Fox," She took a deep breath and switch the pen from one hand to the other, "we can do this the hard way, but I don't think you'd like that. So, tell me, what does the son of Bran Borrecki want?"

At the mention of his father, Scotch swallowed. How much did they know? Were they on Trinity's side or his father's side? Were they even on a side? The female smirked.

"He tried to kill Morgan Trinity, but it backfired on him and he got killed."

"No! That's a lie!" Scotch stood up. "Who's feeding ya this information?" He couldn't believe she would say such things! His father was not a killer. Trinity was!

"And now his son follows his foot—"

"He's a police captain! I know him! He would never do such things."

"You mean he 'was'," she sneered. "Sit down."

Scotch scowled. He wondered what Mason was saying or being asked. What about Christoph, River, and Ginger?

"Sit down," the female said again.

Scotch shook his head. "Do ya seriously believe a bunch of amateur cadets would try to seize a Human settlement? For what reason? It's so stup—"

"For what reason, I would like to know as well. General Scores speculates your involvement with the Anthro Era Movement that is supposedly working with the Scuttles to overthrow both the Human and Halfhuman police force. I heard the Scuttles and AEM are responsible for that explosion in the Second Ring's Rickitine Hotel. Maybe you could tell me something about that? And please sit down."

His jaw dropped. Out of all the things, they were going to be blamed for everything they were trying to stop. Anger boiled in his chest. He was not going to stand by and watch this happen. He was not going to let them do this.

"Did Trinity tell you that?" he spat.

"Please sit down, and we can talk," she said, and began tapping the pen on the table again.

Shite, she won't listen. Just calm down, he told himself, think. Scotch knew all about corrupt police now. If the Humans were as corrupt as the Halfhumans, talking sense into this woman would just backfire on him. He would just be giving her more reason to write up an official report about all the crimes he was supposedly responsible for. 

Whatever Humans wanted to get out of this, whatever Saber or Sorren wanted to get out of this, and whatever Maya or Luka wanted out of this, he really didn't care. It didn't matter. What mattered was that Morgan Trinity was a criminal, and whoever controlled the Human police was probably in cahoots. Or just turning a blind eye.

He had to at least get through this session, waste their time until Trinity got here, and then try to figure things out from there. It was the only way without getting a criminal record written up. He had to stay clean if he was going to call Trinity out. Hopefully the High Collection Halfhuman representative would listen to him.

But what if they were also corrupt? Scotch did not want to think of the worse case scenario of the worse case scenario, but he had to be prepared. He stuffed his paw in his jacket pocket, feeling the stone of justice.

If you really are magical, I could use some help now. He bit his lip and sat down.

"Good, now let's begin with your upbringing, shall we?" the female Human took a notebook from her lap, the old-fashioned stuff. "Where were you born?"

What is this, a psychiatrist's session? He grimaced. But if they wanted his life story, he would go into as much unnecessary detail as he could to stall until Trinity got here. Besides, the faster they got back to the Second Ring, the better. Being detained by Halfhuman police might not be ideal, but if they could escape, Scotch could get to the Halfhuman representative and present his case.

But with what evidence? he thought as he began to tell the female about him, Mason, and their traitor friend Dex running through the forest on the day his father died. He decided the best thing was to get captured by Trinity, make her spew her truths at them and record it the whole time. 

He had locked his Bolt off and lied to the Human police he didn't have one. They didn't even try to feel him up to make sure he didn't have weapons. Which was strange. Scotch did have a feeling it had something to do with Yellow Hair who took charge of taking him in. Yellow Hair said he checked for weapons, but he didn't.

Scotch glanced at the glass, at his own tired reflection and wondered if Yellow Hair was on the other side.

* * *

An hour later, they were shoved in the Halfhuman policeship. To his disappointment, Trinity was not driving, and Alex Earlstone had come along. Scotch, in his cage next to Mason's, scooted as far away as possible, pressing his back to the bars. The horrible memory of that night suddenly came back to him along with Tyler comforting him which had all been a lie. He wished he could just forget about it all. Mason reached through the bars and patted his paw.

"My, my, my," Alex began, turning towards Scotch, "you got yourselves in some hot water, huh?"

Mason hissed. "Ya even know what Trinity's doin'?"

Alex's tiger-like face twitched into a forced smile. "I don't care. Long as I can stay as Chief Deputy."

"Ya killed Dornt!" River barked. "Ya killed him! I saw—"

Alex banged on her cage making her whimper. "Can you be quiet? I'm talking with the pretty boy!" he shouted. He banged his entire body against her cage over and over.

Scotch felt a shiver run up his spine. He really did not want to see or hear any more of Alex. Something fell from Alex's pocket and rolled to stop at Scotch's cage. It was a badge that said, 'Honorary Chief Deputy of AEM'. They were everywhere. AEM was in every nook and cranny. Scotch pointed it out to Mason who gave a quiet hiss. Then Mason whispered to Christoph who was on his other side.

"Shite," Mason swore and then followed up with a cough. Scotch glanced over through the cage bars, passed Mason to see what was going on when Alex came near his cage to pick up the badge. He lifted his head and locked eyes with Scotch.

No, please. Scotch pushed himself against the bars as Alex reached in to touch him.

"You are sick! Sick!" River started barking.

"Yeah, sick!" Ginger joined in. "Predator!"

Alex rolled his eyes and whipped around to growl at them, but River kept barking. She wouldn't stop even when Alex banged against the cage, yelling at her to shut up. Scotch saw it then. Christoph was suddenly out of the cage holding a gun to Alex's head. He undid the safety latch.

"Take off all your weapons and put your hands up and get into the cage," he snarled. But Alex wasn't fazed. He just smiled and then he began to laugh.

"Y-You think you can shoot me?" he chuckled.

Christoph gritted his teeth. "I think I can."

He shot him on the leg. Alex roared in pain and then Christoph patted him down and took out a whole bunch of weapons. Guns, rifles, various knives, and a dagger with a carved wooden handle. Then he unlocked Mason with the keys and shoved Alex in the cage. Scotch came out next and unlocked River and Ginger. The pilot, through this whole thing, was just driving the policeship behind the sound-proof glass.

Scotch and Mason whispered a plan of taking over the policeship and going to sneak into Halfhuman police headquarters to record Trinity in secret. That was better than being captured and trying to record her. But then, the emergency red lights came on. The pilot had noticed them and pressed the emergency button which would notify all policeship ports that the criminals had escaped.

Scotch glanced at Mason.

"We'll be detained," he said. Mason sighed and the five could only wait as Alex laughed in their faces for not thinking anything through.

"Teenagers," he chuckled, wincing from his wound.

"Shut up, predator," Christoph scowled.

There was nothing they could do, and it was embarrassing. Maybe if they had thought things through, or if Christoph had told them what he was doing. But how could he if they were being watched by Alex? At least they were out of the cages. That had to be good.

During the entire two-hour flight, they tried to rest. It was not the ideal place or situation with your enemy in a cage grinning at you with a predatory smile. Alex was looking at Scotch as if he was prey. 

Scotch moved to sit closer to where the pilot was. At least the pilot wasn't looking at him. Mason and Christoph came to join him until the whole gang was around him. They fell asleep like that and when they woke, somehow Alex had gotten out and he was sneering at them with cuffs and muzzles for humiliation. 

They had arrived.