The Culling

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"Alright! Now that you're all here, let me make one thing as clear as possible: I will not be like the instructors you had when you first became police officers. I'm not going to allow any of you to have breaks, or relax, or do anything that might compromise your training. I intend for every single officer that is chosen for the mission to go home back to their families in one piece. This mission will be nothing like your fight before. All of your training and work to get where you are is nothing compared to the pain and suffering you are going to endure in these next two weeks. If anyone has lost their nerve, please, let me know right now. You will not be judged or ridiculed for making this choice, because even if you fight through the pain, there is no guarantee that you will be chosen. I will give you five minutes to decide. Anyone that is still in the room when I return will be taken to the bus at the back of the building, where you will be taken to a living Hell for fourteen days. There will be no turning back, so don't decide lightly. Understood?"

47 stands behind the podium where Bogo usually stood, looking at the officers with an impossible to read expression. Judy and Nick both notice that the playful spark in his eyes, the one that makes you wonder how someone like him could be an assassin, is gone. What's left is a cold determination that is honestly more than a bit terrifying. There's an emptiness that seems to hold so many emotions within that it's impossible to name them all.

The leopard leaves the room, and the officers get into a heated discussion on what they should do. Officers Andersen, Trumpet, Higgins, McHorn, Johnson, and Pennington all, with ashamed looks on their faces, leave the room, though not all at once. Higgins is just out of sight before 47 returns.

He takes one look at those left. His eyes land on the two rhinos in the room, before pointing a thumb to the door. "You two are out. Your bodies are much too heavy and slow. Get out" he says, not seeming irritated at all. He simply states it like they all knew it. Grumbling slightly, they both exit, leaving 47 with only Snarlov and Grizzoli (polar bears), Fangmeyer (tiger), Wolfard (wolf), Delgato (Lion), and Judy and Nick. The leopard looks at each of them for about 5 seconds, before walking out of the room, waving his paw for them to follow.

The officers trail behind him. Delgato and Wolfard whisper among each other, talking about the tattoo on the assassin's skull. They speak so low that even Judy, with her superior hearing, can't pick it up.

"I got the tattoo when I was about 6 years old. That was. . . . . 49 years ago? I'm not sure, to be honest" 47 says casually, having heard them easily, despite the distance between them.

The lion and wolf immediately fall silent, shocked at his ability to hear them. They eventually reach a VERY large bus with bulletproof windows and the assassin motions them inside. Judy jumps in, and immediately notices the 10 beds placed evenly on the floor.

"Um, why are these here?" She asks the leopard, confused.

47 just states, "It's going to be a long ride. You'll need as much sleep as possible"

   Judy just gulps, already feeling nervous about this.

   Nick just hops on one of the beds and lays back. "Never knew that you could get comfortable beds in a bus"

   "Well, don't get used to it," 47 says, sitting in a chair at the front of the bus. The other officers pool inside, and the leopard slams a fist twice on the glass separating him from the driver. The bus cranks up and starts to drive through the streets, eventually reaching the border of the city. It drives right on past and soon Zootopia is out of sight.

   Judy is obviously nervous, but 47 just stands and goes to the aisle in the middle of the bus.

   "Attention all of you. Underneath your pillows is a laptop. These contain recordings of my training records and my final tests from my past. Watch them. Study them. Note that these were from me in my prime. That was over 2 decades ago. Also, the Agent that we are dealing with today could be much more skilled than I was"

   The officers don't say anything. Most reach under their pillows and grab the computers, starting them up and beginning to watch.

   Judy follows the officers' pawsteps and starts up the laptop, though Nick ignores the suggestion and asks 47 a few questions.

   "So, I've heard you're good with pistols. What's your favorite caliber?"

   47 doesn't speak for a moment, before deciding to just go along with it. "When I need to be quiet, subsonic 9mm can't be beat, but it lacks any serious punch. I, personally, favor .45 ACP rounds. They hit hard and travel fast, which I adore"

   "Yeah, I've shot a couple of guns before. Finnick taught me to shoot an old rifle of his, but the ammo's pretty expensive. I think it was. . . a .30-06?. . . or it might have been a .300 Win-Mag. I'm not sure to be honest, but it felt like the recoil broke my shoulder"

   "Yeah, long range rifles can do that to you. You should try shooting a .50 BMG. Those things can send you flying if you don't know what you're doing"

   Judy smiles lightly at the small conversation between 47 and Nick. After he went to see his Mom, Nick has acted a lot more sociable to the former assassin, and, if she didn't know better, she might have thought that they were adopted brothers or something.

   The sound of gunshots from her lap draws her attention, and she looks down at the computer screen, which showed what looked to be a scenario in which 47 was ambushed by a group of assassins, armed with rifles, shotguns, and pistols.

   Knowing that she miss quite a lot, the rabbit rewinds the video and watches it over, trying intently to study every movement of the leopard, and to her, the world seems to fade away as she is immersed in a simulation of the daily life of Agent 47

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