Without that false fluffy tail behind my back, I felt incongruous with my surroundings. In Zootopia, not having a tail was starting to feel like my world's equivalent of not having your battle gear ready.
No gun, no protection. No mask, no breath. No tail, no dignity. There's no fitting in.
Perhaps an animal officer in the room didn't have a tail. Someone I could relate to? As far as I could tell, they all had tails - everyone except me.
Too many staring faces, all of them giving me awkward stage fright. Not good.
Quite frankly, it reminded me of those random dreams everyone experienced growing up where they'd find themselves in a large public setting - all naked, with nothing on - and there was nothing that could be done except wait for the dream to be over.
All the while, the projections within the dream would either stare the naked person down, laugh at them, or attack as a horde of white blood cells. The situation was terrible either way because no escape route revealed itself until after the moment of embarrassment was felt. Sometimes, one would eventually find a pile of clothes on the floor, a paper sign to use as cover, a closet to hide in, or perhaps a loaded pistol as a sure way of waking up.
Dismissing my thoughts, I frantically searched my immediate area while remaining frozen in place. So, where did my tail go? How did I lose it? Now, my cover was partially blown. To them, I must've looked like a freak.
Aside from my current predicament, I couldn't help but admire the main area we were in...
Sometimes, when an audience is staring you down, the only way to remain on stage is to distract yourself with something non-living. In my case, it was interior architecture.
The multi-story lobby had an impressive layout containing multiple tree gardens throughout the main level with a centralized help desk surrounded by a giant sheriff star engraved on the floor. Behind the circular desk, I saw an ironically overweight cheetah holding a large birthday cake reading, 'HAPPY 30TH!' along with a couple of boxes of rainbow-sprinkled donuts next to him. At first, I kind of wanted one until I saw a powdered donut lodged into the fat fold of his neck. Disgusting. I bet my appetite ran away faster than he ever could.
His mouth was completely full, and his cheeks completely puffed up, but he didn't seem to swallow due to being diverted by my unexpected presence. To the left of him, there stood many more ZPD animal officers of different sizes, heights, and species who all wore the same blue uniform.
There were two maned lions, another rhinoceros, four tigers holding mugs, two grey wolves holding a birthday banner on the upper balcony, a blonde-haired pig, a wide-eyed African elephant, a hippopotamus with twitching ears, two polar bears, a black panther, a black bear, a horse, two ugly sheep, and a... good heavens... a minotaur-looking cape buffalo who looked like he wanted to put me in a chokehold.
He was a top-heavy build with dark grey fur, a four-star pinned shirt, and folded muscular arms. His pessimistic and suspicious-looking nature would not go well in these next few moments if I kept staring at him; thus, I avoided eye contact and turned to face the other officers.
While the others weren't quite as intimidating nor authoritative in appearance, they all seemed mildly confused and greatly disappointed by my unexpected arrival, which ruined the surprise party. The entire room transitioned from silence to murmuring among the animal officers, and I began to wonder what they were saying about me. Whatever it might've been, things weren't looking too swell, so I weighed my possible options out. Couldn't think of any at the moment.
"Wilde!" the buffalo bellowed out, pointing at me. "See to it that this mammal gets checked in! Whatever he is."
"Gladly, sir!" smirked the fox who began to guide me along. "I'll get our little party crasher here tucked away."
"And I want that paperwork done."
"Be sure to leave me some cake!"
"Paperwork first!"
The fox shrugged and weaved us further through the animal crowd, where they exchanged many inaudible comments with each other. Perhaps regarding me. I didn't like it because I couldn't hear them well enough to determine if it was negative or not. That is until one of them spoke out after checking the time on their cellular device.
"C'mon everyone!" the female elephant officer announced. "Grizzoli's gonna be here any minute now so get ready!"
That's when everyone in the lobby tended back to their duties and began to chat nonstop. It was too much to keep track of for me, so I simply listened as we strolled along.
"You got it, Francine!"
"Let's clean this up before he gets here,"
"Yes, we can still surprise him!"
"Remember your positions!"
"Try not to put creases on that banner, Wolfard!"
"10-4"
"Higgins! Come help me lift this, will ya?"
"On it,"
"Clawhauser! Stop picking at the cake!"
"Oh, right!"
"I'll watch the door," said a lion officer, walking to the entrance with a puzzled look. "Wait... Are you sure you locked it, Fangmeyer?" "
Yes, I know I did," he answered, scratching his head. "Hmm... Wilde, did you unlock the doors when you came in?"
"Even the lock's broken. See?" the bear said, picking up the bolts.
"Wilde?"
"Hey now, don't look at me," the fox chuckled while thumbing toward me, "You can thank our new friend here for that."
The lion tilted his head and gave me a stern gaze of intimidation before returning to the door to fix it. I didn't care, for it wasn't my fault that they didn't have automated doors.
I'm guessing that because Grizzoli had keys to the building then, only he or another fellow officer should've been able to gain access to it. I felt a little bad for unintentionally making them think that I was that one lucky birthday officer since it was quite a pleasant surprise, to be honest, But it ended up being a false alarm because of my unexpected intrusion. My apologies to them, but there's no way I could just wait outside the station before proceeding. The public caught wind of me, so I had to make an impulsive move.
Hopefully, for my own sake, they had enough time to recover and throw the same surprise celebration at the officer who truly deserved it—turning thirty years old. What a wonderful age to celebrate if you're into aging. If I were that officer, then I'd be graciously thanking everyone for the love and care put into the celebration.
Yet, here I was... ruining surprises with my own surprise...
The stalwart rhino officer and the crooked tiger crook followed right behind us as we made our way past the circular help desk. The chubby cheetah stared in wonder, never taking his eyes off us, and slowly took a large bite out of the powdered donut that was previously stuck in his neck. I winced at this unappetizing sight and could only imagine the serious problem animals must've faced here when handling food and making sure their own fur didn't get mixed in with it.
Gross.
So, he was the stereotypical donut-loving cop, then? He looked more like the cheetah who swallowed another cheetah due to his unfit body proportions. Behind his desk, I was tall enough to spot several stashes of food such as lucky chomps cereal, candy balls, cotton candy, extra donuts, and much more that I couldn't bear to count. Why so much junk food? Doesn't he know that he's going to get diabetes? At least he beat anorexia.
Thank goodness he didn't live in my world because he'd starve to death due to the short amount of rations we had following the nuclear fallouts. Also, our rations would've been extinguished with him sniffing around.
In addition, he also had a bright pink coffee mug and a polished purple snowglobe on top of his desk. Both of them had etched-in hearts, and both had plenty of decorative glitters that gave off an overall feminine impression in his workspace. So he's that kind of animal then... well... whatever floats his boat.
As the fox and I walked along the hard floor with scattered pieces of wasted confetti blowing around with each step, I heard the flabby cheetah officer randomly cheer from behind,
"Wow! Look at you go, Officer Wilde! Way to catch yourself a... um... well... a big criminal!"
"Oh, it was nothing." smirked the fox. "Just another better day,"
"Be sure to come back for some cake and ice-cream once you're done!"
"Wouldn't wanna miss out, right?"
"Nope!" the cheetah gleamed brightly, "Especially if it's all homemade," he said, smacking his lips, "Oh! Aaand did I mention that we have blueberry icecream?"
"You've read my mind, Ben," the fox smiled with a wink, "Save some for me, okay bud?"
"Ohh, you know I will!" the cheetah grinned in an oddly feline feminine way.
Goodness, that cheetah got on my nerves. There's more to life than food, you know. Someone's gotta tell him that, or he's going to learn the hard way. The problem is that Zootopia appeared to have an abundance of food - unlike my world - so the inhabitants here could stuff themselves without worrying about the number of mouths to feed. If only my universe had that luxury.
The fox continuously escorted me to the back of the lobby, where we came upon a set of double doors leading into a possible check-up room. While keeping me in place, the fox reached for a set of keys on his utility belt but was interrupted by a jaguar officer passing through.
"Here, let me get that for you, Wilde," he said, holding the left door open.
"Why thank you!" the fox bowed. "Such a gentle-mammal."
"You're welcome." the jaguar smiled before lifting a bewildered eyebrow at me. "So... um, who...who do we have here exactly?"
"Say hello to the suspect from Precinct 2," the fox gestured to me in a presenting manner. Both observed, but I only gave them a dead look. I took a big step through the double doors but felt a slight tug from the fox. Right. He couldn't take long steps like me, so I had to take shorter steps to match his short height. Also, the animal's tails kept getting in the way, so I had to watch where I was going.
The jaguar moved into the hallway with us and closed the doors behind him, "Oh, so he's... he's the one they were talking about earlier?" he asked while examining me from the waist up, "The one who caused all those public disturbances calls around 3:00 PM?"
"Bingo. We caught him and his buddy Mr. Stripes back there trying to steal a necklace."
"A necklace, you say? Like a vintage?"
The fox nodded, "A decent one too."
"Wow," the jaguar pondered for a moment, "Do...Do you need my help getting him checked in?"
The fox casually shook his head. "No, he'll be easy."
Easy? I angrily pondered in my head.
"I really don't mind lending you a paw," the jaguar offered.
"Don't worry, my partner's on her way and you're already clocked out."
"You sure? I don't mind, I can just--"
"Relax! Go get yourself some cake and we'll join you all shortly!"
"Oh, okay, sounds good! See you soon," the jaguar waved while exiting the hallway door into the main lobby.
With the jaguar officer gone and the doors closed, only the four of us were in the long hallway stretch. There were many doorways with potted palm trees on both sides, and the ceiling contained random clusters of light patterns that each resembled giraffe spots. Everything in this police station - including the city - had some sort of fancy animal architectural design. In my world, every man-made design was utilitarian; but in Zootopia, everything seemed to be more decorative.
It was a nice change in pace, but it would've been considered a waste of resources during my former times. Fortunately, those days were long gone.
The rhino officer and the tiger suspect went further ahead of us down the hallway while my personal fox escort slowed down a bit to send a quick text message to someone. Of course, HE would be texting on the job. We kept walking, albeit slowly, but the others were faster and already disappeared behind one of the doors at the far end.
Now it was only the fox and me.
With no other creature in sight, I dropped my gauntlets down to my sides and sighed out of relaxing relief. For the last couple of uncomfortable minutes, I had to tighten my wrists together to give off the false impression that my arms were still cuffed. Seeing if the fox would even notice, I turned my head, and sure enough, he noticed as one of his ears perked up.
His head lifted, and his eyes grew big. "What the--?" he gasped, reaching for his utility belt.
Without hesitation, I stooped down and swiftly grabbed the fox officer by the neck. I held him up high with one hand, which caused his legs to dangle, and flail around helplessly, his teeth bared, and his paws holding onto my forearm for dear life. Watching his eyes widen in fear brought me great overdue satisfaction. I had him now.
"WHOA, whoa, whoa, take it easy, big guy!" he grunted as I tightened my grip. "What are you... doing?!"
With the other hand free, I reached for his utility belt to pull out the taser he used on me earlier. Its size may have been small for a standard issue, but it was potent enough to give a good zap, so I activated it with the press of a button and held it in close proximity to his neck. Using someone's weapon against his/herself was always gratifying.
"C'mon... we can work this out... right? Use...your... words...bud..." the fox begged, trying to free himself but to no avail.
However, instead of giving him the electric shock he deserved, I tightly clenched my fist around the electric device, causing it to crumble into hundreds of tiny pieces and effectively destroying it. Emptying the dust debris from my hand, I reached for his little tranquilizer pistol and crumbled it like an empty soda can. Now he was unarmed.
"You know... I'd tell you to get a grip... but I don't think that's gonna help my current situation," the fox nervously chuckled as he struggled to speak.
"Shut up." I glared, squeezing his neck harder.
As much as I disdained that fox, I had no intention of harming him further - as my species would've - so I tossed him to the far side, which caused him to slide a few meters away and thud with a wall. While he coughingly struggled to lift himself, I made my way to one of the nearby hallway doors to find an alternate exit for escape.
I didn't know why I was doing this or what the devil I was thinking, but it all likely happened out of pure soldier instinct. Either way, I convinced myself that I wouldn't become incarcerated by a bunch of talking animals, let alone by a crafty little red fox. After all, that mantle of power fell upon humans.
I waved my arm, hoping the door's sensors would detect motion, but it had to be opened manually, just like in the old days.
As I swung open the unlabeled door, I was only met with a bunch of wooden brooms and mop heads falling over and plopping to the ground. I dodged them, and there were at least seven more stored away in a disorganized manner. Too bad I couldn't use one of them to fly out of here like in the Harry Potter movies because that would've been overly convenient. Aside from that, there was nothing else but extra cleaning supplies inside. Great.
Moving to the next door adjacent to the custodial closet, I gripped the doorknob, but nothing happened. Locked. I squeezed the handle once more, but it snapped right off the panel, and I shamefully held the broken piece in my hand. Disgruntled, I chucked it to the side and attempted the other door across the hallway. This one had a glass window, so I peeked through only to be met with a dozen glances from the classroom pupils inside. I couldn't tell who it was exactly, for I retreated my head back as quickly as possible, but I knew they already saw me.
With options running low, I frantically checked my surroundings for another exit but couldn't find one that I hadn't already tried. There were more doors, but all of them had at least two or more occupants on the other side, and the pair of double doors at the far end was securely locked.
"Give it up pal," the fox quipped while slowly trying to stand. "You know you're right in the middle of a police station, right?"
Annoyed, I immediately deployed my nano pistol in one hand and pointed it right at him without looking.
"WHOA, Whoa there, take it easy! Easy now..." he said, crawling backward in fear until he backed up into another wall. "Now... I can tell you're not exactly in the mood to chat but--"
"Want a three-inch hole in your sternum?" I asked impatiently, "Stop. Talking."
"Okay! Fair enough," he frantically nodded, using his paw as an imaginary zipper to gesture that his mouth was zipped shut.
Did he honestly think this was a joke?
His somewhat relaxed attitude certainly surprised me, even though he still manifested a large hint of fear in his eyes. It's almost as if he were trying hard to be unphased even though he knew his life was in jeopardy. Fortunately for him, he preferred to keep his life by not doing anything foolish.
"Hey, is everything okay out here?" a young female voice asked. I turned to the right, and it was an antelope with a lab coat and glasses poking her antlered head out one of the hallway doors. She must've been one of the ZPD forensics analysts based on the overall outfit. I gave her one glare, and she disappeared behind the door with great haste and locked it securely.
Oh boy...
However, seconds later, as I traveled down the hallway, that same door opened back up, and a uniformed black panther came barging out. Upon seeing me, he briefly froze in place before shaking his thoughts and drawing out his taser gun with a pinpoint red laser. The red dot appeared on my chest, but I didn't bother to raise my weapon at him. Instead, I waited for him to make a move even though white always moves first in a game of chess.
"Freeze!" he ordered, giving stern and threatening eyes that seemed to give off an eerie glow. "I will not ask you a second time!"
Taking a step closer, I tilted my head forward in intimidation.
"Back off," I said while raising my pistol at him.
He reacted by tightening his grip and sharpening his focus. "Last chance! Drop the weapon!" he ordered, "Now!"
"No." I glared.
At that moment, he pulled the trigger, and the electric wire launched straight at me. I tried to dodge it, but my arm got in the way and the thin cord wrapped around my forearm. The tip lodged between the armor plates, which caused a sharp current to run its course throughout my body.
However, I withstood most of it due to my suit absorbing the majority of the voltage charge. Unlike the fox, the panther struck a thicker and more protected section of my armor.
Since the entangled wire cord was still attached to both my forearm and the panther's gun, I gripped the cord with one arm and pulled the panther officer's pistol towards me like a game of tug-of-war. I half expected him to let go of the pistol, but he kept a tight enough grip on it that he traveled with it. Cranking my other arm back, I then landed a solid punch to his face which caused him to fall flat on his back and slide a few yards away. He was knocked out cold.
"Oh my god!" the fox exclaimed, still sitting on the floor with his back pressed against the wall. "What... what are you doing?"
"Leaving," I answered while searching the panther's unconscious body for keys which I couldn't find.
"Listen big guy, you're trapped here!" he pointed out. "You won't be getting out that easy... trust me..."
"We shall see."
"What kind of animal are you? Better yet, WHAT are you?"
"That should be the least of your concerns."
"But who are you?"
Evading his question and departing away from him, I moved to the set of double doors at the end of the hallway, but both were securely locked and fastened shut.
I looked back at the red fox behind me, who sat on the floor and stared in curious disbelief. Raising my finger and pointing at him, I warned, "If you try anything funny, you're done."
Instead of lifting the other handle, using a stolen keycard, or knocking as a civilized creature should, I kicked both doors wide open, denting the wooden panel, and moved into the next room.
Another hallway, albeit a unique one.
This time, the hallway twisted around a bend with fewer doors than the previous one. The design was similar but much curvier and more decorative. Hanging along the walls, it had police uniform portraits of all the officers working at the ZPD - past, present, and maybe even future - since some of the frames had nameplates, but no picture yet added.
Truly, it was quite strange to see animals wearing formal outfits and smiling like humans because fangs and sharp teeth didn't exactly register as pleasant smiles to me. However, they pulled it off well and evolved enough to have a decent grin. While some maintained a closed-mouth smile as I would, the amount of emotion on their faces revealed a great deal of personality.
There were too many police portraits to look at, but I saw the elephant, the buffalo, the fox, the wolf, and... well... the panther I barely punched back there. I'm sure he'd be all right.
On a bulletin adjacent to the portraits, I saw a little poster showcasing the ZPD history, its accomplishments (including the Night Howler case), and the following article:
Top 3 reasons to be a cop are:
To fight for justice! To serve the citizens! And to make the world a better place!
How cute, I thought sarcastically. Each of the three reasons had a lengthy paragraph that I didn't have time to read, nor did I care. Escape was my only concern.
However, I had to admit that the police here in the city of Zootopia seemed like quite a noble force. They were always willing to serve others at the expense of their free time, and they all appeared to sincerely love their job. The bulletin had numerous pictures of service projects, fundraisers, goofy group photos, portraits with government officials, teaching children in school, providing educational support in colleges, and many more things they did.
What hit me most is that they all had families. This world still had that sweet tradition of taking happy family pictures where everyone stood together as one unit. My world didn't have that anymore. We gradually transitioned away from families and more towards individualism until it was generally accepted that men and women ought to fend for themselves.
In Zootopia, families were strong but filled with an aura of innocence. In my world, individuals were strong, but they were filled with an aura of guilt.
The officer's pictures were indeed beautiful but painful to watch. I couldn't bear it anymore because it was beyond my society's culture. A rejected concept, never to make a comeback. Just a memory but never a reality for me. It was my own family photo.
When you've got nothing, you've got nothing to lose. When you've got everything, like a family, then you've got everything to lose. Was it worth it? Most decent creatures would say yes. However, I came from an indecent world ravaged by antimatter warfare. Not exactly a fair environment to raise an innocent family in.
No matter, life wasn't fair, so we had to take it as it was. Not everyone gets the opportunity to be happy, so we often have to create it for ourselves. I'd be happier if I could leave this place and avoid jail. Away from animals, away from this city, and away from trouble; whatever it takes to not feel like an alien in this overpopulated zootropolis. In the long term, it'd be safer for everyone else.
Perhaps the rocky mountains or a thick forest could provide my ideal remedy because those places were like dedicated sanctuaries for those who prefer to be alone. Luckily for me, I had the tools to get out of there.
But would it be like a walk in the park? Easy to do? About 77% said yes, but 23% said no. After all, I was from the future, so nothing or no one could stand in my way. I may not be the sharpest drawer in the knife, but I had the technology. I had the capacity to multitask by killing two stones with one bird.
I peeked through the windows for an alternative escape route, but every room behind each door had no obvious outlet. Electric outlets, yes, plenty of them, but outlets to escape, no, none whatsoever. Directly above me, I did see a fair-sized air ventilation shaft behind a metal ceiling grate, but I rejected the idea due to my fear of claustrophobia and the fact that I'd be making too much noise traveling through it.
The hallway continued to wind itself around in a tight manner, and I didn't like where it was going. At this point, It redirected itself to another section of the building: The main lobby of the police station where we first came in. The only way out now. Frick.
There was another set of double doors, but neither panel had any window to glance through. I knew the lobby was on the other side, but I had no idea how close the exit would be. My options were limited-to-none, so I shook my head and stepped forward to push the door. Locked again. I punched the handle, and it finally flung wide open.
Multitudinous light rays blinded my eyes as bright beams from the sun shone straight through the lobby windows as the sun prepared to set for the day. The entire room had a gentle glow to it, while the white color of my armor gave off an imperial glimmer. After my vision went momentarily green, I began to see again, and the exit was directly ahead of me.
Nonetheless, my hope for an easy escape rapidly seeped away as I saw multiple animal police officers surrounding my position. Their weapons were fully drawn and pointed in my direction.
Instinctively, I deployed my duel pistols and aimed right back at them. This caused some to flinch, but they eventually came back to focus. Due to being outnumbered, I pointed at different targets here and there to give all an equal chance of intimidation.
It must've been everyone from the lobby. From medium to large size, they all stood together as one united team and blocked my exit. The largest animals - such as the elephant - stood in the back row, and the smallest animals - such as the wolves - knelt down in the front row with mildly confused but strongly focused facial expressions as they prepared for action. Ears were pointed, and animal instincts were kicking into gear.
As they wish...
Time for battle but no time for war.
Their tranquilizer weapons didn't scare me, for they were far inferior to my own weaponry, but the animal diversity of their force and the bravery they manifested were what hit me most. After all, the floor had the words 'Trust, Integrity, Bravery' engraved, so they had to live up to it, even if it meant death.
All the mammal officers held their positions except for one of them, that stepped forward through the crowd. He wasn't the tallest, but the horned officer had the most intimidating scowl of them all.
The uniformed cape buffalo took a defensive stance and glared at me for a few seconds. Then, while pointing at me, he said, "You're not going anywhere! We've got you surrounded."
His remark made me question my actions, but I had to convince myself to remain calm if I were to talk my way out of this one. The last thing I wanted was to gun down all these innocent creatures for doing their job, and my only desire was to prevent myself from being imprisoned by talking animals.
Either way, I made myself increasingly eligible for jail, but I couldn't allow imprisonment without a good fight. Ideally, I would escape from this place and show them I was more powerful than that fox made me out to be. Plus, I never stole the antique necklace, so I didn't even belong here.
Back on Earth-77, the judicial system under the Intergalactic Stratocracy was painfully slow, and several months could pass before an innocent man was released from prison after being found not guilty. Could the same broken system exist here in Zootopia? Possibly but not likely. Either way, I didn't want to take any chances. I've been falsely imprisoned at home before; it was a terrible mental experience. One thing I regretted was not fighting back when I had the chance. Today would be different.
The buffalo chief waited for my response, but I gave him none. Growing impatient, he sighed and took a deep breath before speaking.
"Now, let's make this simple," the buffalo continued. "Turn yourself in and we can resolve without further conflict."
"Without conflict? Possibly."
"Splendid. Now prove it."
Per his request, I gently lowered both my guns and stared at the ground in thought. Perhaps it'd be best to let them take me in, for there was nothing to gain from this. Unlike the encounter I had with the Howl family in the forest, this upcoming encounter could actually get someone hurt.
Nonetheless, my pride got the best of me, and I had zero desire to be placed in a jail cell. Who knows if my temptation to escape jail would cause more problems than the problems I'd create while trying to leave this station? Either way, the result would be the same, so I raised my pistols back up again and pointed them at the officers.
"But turn me in? Not going to happen." I declared.
The mammal officers tightened the grip on their pistols, and the water buffalo disapprovingly shook his head. "I don't know what the devil you are, nor do I care, but you will NOT be leaving here!"
"We'll see." I challenged.
"I'm only going to ask this once." he fumed. "DROP your weapons and STAND DOWN!"
Things were about to get ugly. The horned chief would not mess around any further, and his deathly glare penetrated down to my eyes even though he couldn't see them. I exchanged glances with the other officers, and some shared the same serious face as their chief while others seemingly begged me to give in.
Like Edward Scissorhands, I couldn't exactly 'drop' my weapons, and the officers didn't know that. My guns were a part of my suit and, in essence, a part of me. For that reason, I replied, "No, sir."
Everyone briefly looked at each other like I was crazy, but they had no idea who I truly was.
"It's not worth it, buddy," the grey wolf officer warned.
"C'mon!"
"Don't make us do this!"
"Just get down on the floor, and put your paws up!" the elephant urged.
For a moment, I almost gave in. None of the officers had the eagerness to fire their pistols, as I would've, and I admired that. I could see it in their innocent eyes. All they wanted was a peaceful resolution. My ego set in again, so I stood my ground, quietly uttered, "Never." and pointed both pistols at the chief, making everyone tense up.
"Final warning! On the floor, face down!"
"Right now!"
"Down on the floor now!"
But I heeded them not and maintained my silence. I knew what I had to do.
The buffalo grumbled before glowering at me for a few seconds, probably wondering why I was being so stubborn.
With no more patience to spare, he raised his arm and lowered it while issuing the command, "Drop him!"