Faye scribbled down on her notepad: it was graduation season, and she was writing a few smaller news stories and interviews about the students of Azure College. Across from her was art student and very good friend Pepper, eager to give all the latest details from the local rumour mill. “Okay, okay, so forget those crummy interviews. Here’s something I heard that would make a killer story!” Enthusiastically the fiery-furred ringtail rambled on about how she had picked up whispers about the janitor having been in league with the infamous Fangs of Midas gang and planning a cunning robbery of the computer labs. “Waddaya say, sis’? Wanna go snooping around tonight and bust those baddies red-handed!?” The ferret reporter smirked slyly. “You sure you’re up to it Peppie? Then I’ll meet you on the parking lot at ten.”
THAT EVENING
The two young ladies snuck through a fire exit that had already been broken open from the outside, a clear sign the rumoured criminals (and promised juicy scoop) were indeed on the scene. Pepper and Faye peeked through the windows of the computer labs and spotted the familiar shady figures, rugged and clad in dark clothing, adorned with golden jewelry. “Okay, Pep’, you got your phone out?” Faye whispered to her friend, while sneakily snapping photographic evidence of the theft. “Let’s do the smart thing call the cops while we still can. …Pepper?”
But when the ferret turned around, she saw her panda friend being lifted into the air by an absolutely massive grizzly bear, an equally gargantuan paw clamping over her muzzle. “Hey Sylvia, we have troublemakers!” The bear grumbled, and before Faye knew it a flash of white fur and muscle appeared behind her, snatching her wrist. Faye quickly turned around to strike at her attacker with her free hand, but the grim-faced and dark-haired Angoran cat effortlessly grabbed her fist out of the air and whirled her back around, yanking her arms painfully far up her back. “Ack! Alright, I give up! Just don’t hurt Pepper, okay?”
A Siberian tigress then stepped out the computer lab the goons were ransacking, her figure athletic and her hair cut into a red-with-blue mohawk. “So it seems, Bruin. Glad I brought you and Xander on this job. Boys? Trap them in the nearest supply closest, I’ll be right over to bring you extra ropes.” The invincible grizzly bear, Bruin, and the lighting fast white cat, Xander, made a remarkable team: within record time the two young ladies were tied back-to-back on a janitor cart, with dust cloths crammed into their mouths. The distressed ferret felt a little squeeze in her hand from her friend. “Srmmh ffh blmmng mh, Fmmh…” Pepper gave an embarrassed giggle from underneath her gag. “Mmf mlrmmph, Pmph~” Faye squeezed back to comfort her. She still had one trick up her sleeve: she managed to toss her camera into a nearby trash can before she got nabbed and nothing indicated the Fangs had seen her do it. There was still a very juicy scoop in it for her, provided she could get them untied before the janitor found them like this.
