"I've got the tiger." I declared. "He's mine."

But I was only talking to myself.

Officer Hopps had already disappeared down her respective alleyway so we were both now paired up with our own fleeing crooks. Judy had the pesky little hyena and I had the big brawny tiger. I've done my fair share of foot chases back in the day against looters but never against an animal, let alone, a tiger that should've been the one chasing me. This was about to get fun.

Honestly, I could care less about an antique store being robbed, though, I did feel bad for the female raccoon who had to go through all this trouble. Whatever antiques those animals stole, I'm sure they held some type of historical, material, or sentimental value to Zootopia that I wouldn't understand. Heart of the Ocean, Lost Ark, Football signed by Joe Montana, whatever might've been in that briefcase, it didn't matter to me. Why then, did I bother to help Judy pursue these thugs?

Part of it was inner-soldier instinct, another part was doing the right thing, but above all, I was mostly annoyed with the fact that I couldn't get a single sip of that sparkling ice-cold lemonade. All this running made me exceedingly thirsty but I promised myself to get a refreshing drink once I caught that feline crook.

Our run through the narrow alleyway quickly converted into a sprint as the tiger would stop at nothing to escape from near capture. Thus, I had to fight back those cramping side aches if I were to have any success at completing this unannounced marathon. Unlike those action movie scenes, my energy wasn't unlimited so I had every intention to finish this before I lost my patience and did something that I normally wouldn't do.

The buildings along the edges were fairly small, too small for either of us to slip through, so the tiger took a desperate measure by flinging garbage cans in my path. Jeez! There was already enough noise being made between the two of us. The metal was flying everywhere, lids were clattering, and glass bottles were shattering along the pavement. Good thing I had boots on but those poor animals had better summon a cleanup crew soon or someone would be limping home.

The cans were mostly empty but they still partially impeded my ability to catch up with him. I nearly tripped on some, leaped over a couple, and stomped on the rest, causing them to smash flat like an empty soda can. Luckily, no one was around to hear all the ruckus except for a handful of armadillos curling up into a tight ball as a natural defensive instinct. As the sounds of bashing metal cans continued on, the narrow passage further amplified the thunderous noise.

One of the metal lids conveniently rolled towards me, I snatched it on the run, positioned it in my gauntlet, then flicked my wrist hard to send it flying down the alleyway towards the head of the tiger. Missed. It went too high and shattered an overhead lamppost bulb.

"What the devil?" the tiger exclaimed, quizzically looking back at me while prowling.

Irritated, I wished to try again so I picked up another garbage can lid mid-sprint and repositioned it to be thrown. This one was much bigger than the previous one so I was eager to land the perfect throw. Just like that, I could put an end to this wild goose chase.

"Huah!" I exerted while heroically flinging the garbage can lid as hard as I could across the alley. It curved through the air, had a promising trajectory, barely missing the tiger's head by an inch as it shattered a nearby flower pot upon impact. "Damn it."

While still running, the tiger turned his head around to see who exactly was throwing those metallic frisbees at him. Upon seeing me fast approaching, his face filled with immense anger.

"HEY! What's your problem freak?" he loudly roared, causing the nearby vermin citizens to skedaddle back into their tiny homes. I was kinda surprised this cat wouldn't go after them. Then again, the animals here were evolved enough to not eat each other.

Tightly clenching both my fists, I prepared to tackle the large tiger but he immediately turned a sharp corner. This caused me to smash a hole in the brick wall, leaving a crater behind, and I couldn't reach him. I barely caught hold of his tail but he moved quicker than I could get a tight grip on it. Drat! Almost got him. I had to keep going. He was light on his feet, wore lightweight clothing consisting of a dark tank top and levis, and had only a briefcase to slow him down.

Brushing off the dust and flicking away a chunk of brick perched on my shoulder, I resumed the chase and told myself not to break anything anymore. However, if this chase didn't end soon then there'd be no guarantees.

He raced further down the alleyway that gradually became covered with vibrant green ferns and leafy shrubbery all around until it felt like a miniature garden archway. The colors were so pretty that I started to get distracted from the suspect ahead of me but I managed to snap myself back into the more pressing situation. The end of the alley was nearing us and the exit was marked by an opulent iron gateway that leads directly into a street view.

Oh great.

Can't this dumb tiger stick to the alleyways instead? Now everyone's going to see me in the streets! No matter, I already dedicated myself to catching him. Perhaps I could lure him into another less visible area if I got lucky.

Instead of taking the sidewalk, the audacious tiger immediately crossed the street despite the incoming flow of heavy traffic. Car horns were resonating as crazy, sirens blared, and twerpy little beeps were going off on all sides. The tiger was getting away, he was already halfway across the road, and I barely made it to the sidewalk before nearly running head-on into an elephant wearing a business dress.

"Watch where you're going!" she warned in vexation, keeping her purse away. 

 I felt another animal lightly crash into my back. "Hey! Careful now!" he called out, being a jackal jogger.

Too many animals were on the sidewalk so I decided to take the risk and cross the busy street. Why were kids playing with remote-controlled cars in the streets? Wait a minute, those were...actual cars? Licensed cars? Crud! I'd hate to squash a family of shrews, mice, rats, and...squirrels? Okay...being a traffic flow manager here would drive me absolutely nuts.

Since when did all these little vermin learn to drive? With all the gigantic cars around there's no way they could feel safe in those vehicles, even with a designated lane. Too many mouse cars were tapping into my boots so I had to keep moving forward to avoid a massive car pileup. While making my way over to the middle of the road, a series of animal voices emanated from passengers and drivers alike.

"Move it!" a gruff female shouted.

"Out of the road!"

"Ice him!" a small but profound voice uttered. 

"USE the crosswalk, idiot!"

"Crickets, what is that thing?!"

"C'mon, dude!" a black panther pizza delivery driver urged.

The tiger was nearing the other side and I had just crossed over the traffic island that contained a fine selection of lilies, sunflowers, roses, and...nevermind. Forget it. Must focus. I unintentionally stepped on the flowers to make a leap over one of the red sedans then finally landed near the middle lane. Finally, I got lucky enough to have other cars stop in place for me so I was able to proceed to the other side without denting any hoods. However, slamming on the breaks didn't make them too happy, especially for those ornery cab drivers who had those strange-looking brown spotted yellow vehicles.

Almost made it across this river of animal traffic and my boot was nearing the edge of the sidewalk. However, a lion road biker, coming out of nowhere and dinging his silver bell, nearly collided with me but succeeded in swerving off to the side. Good grief, this city had too much activity going on! He only gave me a fierce glare then pedaled away.

The tiger was briefly in my sight but a giraffe-sized taxi passed in front of my view and then he was nowhere to be seen. Crud. There's no way he could've just hitchhiked so he still had to be in the same area. Did he go inside this gilded theater building? No, the door was locked. Perfume department? Not likely, the door wasn't even locked but it was much too short for a brawny tiger to slip through. The doorman, rather, the doormammal positioned just outside the elegant building, was a finely dressed koala bear with a crimson-colored tuxedo. He gave me a sour stare, didn't say anything, locked the revolving door, and began shooing me away.

The sidewalk on this side was no less busy than the previous side we just came from. Animals of all heights, shapes, colors, weights, and sizes were all strolling about on the sidewalk with much prisa. Exiting a large black SUV, there was a group of three burly and tall polar bears with navy blue mafia-esque suits, black sweaters, golden chains, and all looked like they wanted to hurt me so I trotted away from them. What was their problem? I probably could've taken on at least one of them but the other two I wasn't so sure about. They were a bit taller than me and I found it better to move away because they didn't seem to have a real desire to fight. Rather, they were only trying to scare me for some unknown reason because one of them cracked his knuckles in satisfaction then turned to walk the other direction.

Moving along, a moose and a camel walked side by side while talking on their cellular devices, a rhino carried a large 'Just Zoo It' gym bag as if he were some bodybuilder returning from the gym, a gathering of bobcat scouts were selling what appeared to be paw-shaped sugar cookies, two zebras, mother, and daughter, were carrying shopping bags filled with fashionable clothing, two giraffes were laughing and sharing social media memes, a reindeer with circular glasses read a newspaper while walking with groups of mice hitching a ride on his antlers, and many other multitudes of animals appeared that I couldn't name off.

Goodness! This was far too much animal for me in one day. I pulled my hood over my helmet, tried to blend in, but I felt a tap on my shoulder. I ignored it and continued to move forward while looking for the tiger target. I lost sight of him but I knew he was around here somewhere. Did he go inside one of these buildings? I sure hoped not, otherwise, it'd be like trying to find a piece of hay in the needle stack.

Arching my neck upward, while still remaining focused on the task, I identified a series of awesome and intricate building designs that made my planet's architecture unworthy. Pointing towards the sky, the structure across the street had the shape of an elaborate scepter, the other one felt like a complex Jenga tower, and the other one appeared as a stack of takeout boxes from different restaurants. Some skyscrapers made me laugh, others made me wonder, a few made me question their structural stability, and the rest made my jaw drop heavy as if the lower lip were numb.

I passed a luxurious movie theater, a sports store, Snarlbucks Coffee, Hoof Locker, and a Preyda store but still no sight of the tiger. If this place wasn't so weird to me then I probably would've caught the tiger by now but my mind continued to try and process everything. Everything here was so booming and lively that it was almost too hard to believe, considering all the dark days I've been through. Back at home, all the stores were either closed down, abandoned, or integrated into a larger company that took off on the internet. 

Our streets were practically abandoned for centuries, no one would ever walk them, we flew in the air, ground drones kept the streets maintained, but here it was not the case. Everything that my formidable race once destroyed was now back from the dead albeit, in a different form.

My thoughts of past guilt were running their full course again, and, paired with heavy thirst, my mind was really starting to feel like it was wrapped in a tight coil of barbed wire. I had to keep walking so, using my gauntlet, I firmly pressed my helmet against my head to ease the pain. With all the anomalous stares I got from the Zootopian pedestrians, it was getting harder and harder to free myself from all this daunting pressure.

And yet, here they were. Seemingly resurrected. All of them walked the streets and, oh, how painful it was to watch them enjoy the life that they never could enjoy in my universe! The adults, the elderly, the families, the children, the cubs, and, no, no, no, not the cubs! Why did they have to remind me? Those curious, friendly stares were so haunting because we never returned the favor back in our experimental zoos. These innocent animals had no idea what we did to them in my world but I most certainly did.

Additionally, I felt a concerned tap on my lower knee which wasn't helping to any degree.

"Sir! Are you lost?" a voice asked.

I paid no attention and kept walking down the city strip. A few steps later, the wet tear on my lower cheek finally dried up. I lightly slapped myself in the face to kick-start the chase back up again and I decided to return to the task at hand. No more emotional breakdowns, no more feelings of regret. For now, my only concern was to catch this fleeing tiger and to help another animal in need. Yes, it's probably just a silly antique being stolen but it's the whole principle of it that matters. Sometimes, even doing small things can make a big difference.

Strolling along, I kept an eye open for any striped figure, until I came to a four-way intersection. Animals consistently gave me the Frankenstein look for a good reason but I had to keep waltzing forward to avoid suspicion. Squirrels, badgers, skunks, otters, you name it, all moved to the side to allow me free passage on the narrowing sidewalk. Some froze in place, either in fear or fright, others took our their phones, either out of curiosity or wonder, but I simply stepped over them and pretended that they weren't even there. If I moved fast enough, then I'd be nothing more than a blurry rendering on any device. That was the plan.

Aside from the modern clothes and technology, I kept getting these Snow White vibes from all these little talking animals around me; thus, I decided to leave out the part where I sing a random, unscripted song about wishes coming true. The only wish I had was to find this tiger.

Moments later, herds and flocks of animals, such as wildebeests, sheep, and ram, were gathering to use the crosswalks so I stood on the corner with them to wait for the next signal. Aside from the apparel, all these animals looked exactly the same to me which gave off a false impression that they were clones of each other. However, they all had different voices and did their own thing so they had some individual aspect of uniqueness. The red traffic signal was taking longer than expected to change and I heard many nearby comments behind my back.

"What IS he?"

"Which part of Tundratown did he thaw from?"

"Leave him alone! He's just a polar bear for crying out loud."

"But why does he look so different?  And creepy?"

"Meh, he just born that way."

"Pretty weird, if you ask me." 

"SHH! He'll hear you!"

I heeded them not, the red paw crosswalk symbol changed to a walking figure, but it had the outline of an animal instead of a human. Regardless, it meant the same thing so I crossed the zebra-stripe-painted street section alongside the hurried herds and finally made it over without any further interruptions from the oddly-shaped Zootopian cars.

One block later, a grand art museum came into full view. It had a wavy skeletal design similar to those found in the Rio Olympics except that this one was built to last as opposed to the ones found on Earth. Not only was it much wider in size but it also had a beautiful garden display around the outer perimeter with a handful of bronze animal statues positioned like temple soldiers. It didn't seem to be open today but plenty of animals roamed its grounds to enjoy the natural features it had to offer, especially the waterpark over on the far side.

At the corner of my eye, I saw the eye of a tiger glaring directly at me. He, among a couple of other tigers, was casually strolling along with the food stands that were positioned on the opposite roadside of the museum. After closer inspection, there was not one, not two, not three, nor four, but five tigers in total.   Was the suspect among them and trying to blend in?

I carefully moved in towards them, trying to be as stealthy as possible but that clearly wasn't working out due to the metallic clanking sound of my boots hitting the solid pavement. In an attempt to suppress the sound further, I avoided walking on my heels which seemed to fractionally reduce the noise.

Alright, how was I going to do this? I positioned my body behind a bus stop with a Mad Yax movie poster and stood only a couple of feet away from them. Wouldn't the crook be running by now if I were this close? Perhaps he isn't in this group.

I peaked around and saw that all five of the tigers had briefcases. All of them. However, they weren't carrying black briefcases but rather small brown leather suitcases. They stood at an incredibly tall height, had good posture, had a strong build, and wore fancy collared shirts with quality pants that resembled the ones from the Banana Republic. Okay, wrong group. The last thing I wanted to do was randomly come out and question them because they all could've easily gained upon me. That there would've been a terrible way to make headlines on a foreign planet.

Nevertheless, they seemed like a nice group of tigers, they were charming for the ladies, confident, strong, and had an uplifting conversation with each other. My concerns surrounding them dwindled so I decided to look elsewhere.

Unexpectedly, I heard a sudden arguing. That's too bad because they really seemed to get along just fine for a moment there. I didn't think much of it and attempted to walk away but the conversation started to get more and more escalated. What was going on?

I returned back, stood behind a lush sidewalk tree, and listened to them without looking.

"Randy! You can't do this!"

"How else am I supposed to pull through!?" 

"By not stealing! Take it back! Now!"

"Forget it!"

Bingo! I thought to myself. I couldn't catch the entire conversation but I heard a familiar name in there. Randy, was it? I remembered hearing the name Andy in the plaza but I was 80% sure it was him. It had to be the same tiger. I peaked around and saw the same group of dressed tigers standing together while watching one storm off.  That had to be Andy.

But where was the black briefcase?

Turns out, he had it firmly tucked under his big bicep so no wonder I couldn't see it before. Those other tigers must've been his more successful friends because it sounded like they were heavily displeased with Andy's criminal activities and chose to dismiss him. Good, I'm glad they weren't all crooks because I really didn't want to take on all five of them. Otherwise, I would've likely been all covered in stripes as well. In my case, red and white stripes like a candy cane.

I moved away from the bushy tree and decided to seize the opportunity to take down the tiger. He was already down the block a bit but I had him in my sights. Awkwardly, I casually walked past the group of dressed tigers who appeared to be calling out on their cellphones. On the move, I gave them a cautious glance and they returned the same thing except with a small hint of perplexity.

No time to waste, I wanted to show this tiger the consequences of living a low life. My walking became a stride, then a jog, then it finally transitioned into a full-on sprint. I was after him and he quickly took note, rolled his eyes, punched a mailbox in frustration, and began to flee down the pedway like a frightened kitten. This cat sure had a temper issue.

"Stop!" I yelled.

"Make me!" he mocked.

He desperately pushed his way through crowds upon crowds of animals that were just exiting a movie theater and he caused a few of them to tumble over. A poor family of otters had their drinks spilled, a male gopher lost his entire bucket of popcorn, a snow leopard couple got paw-pelted in the face, and two kangaroos were harshly pushed over and fell into a group of sloths.

Good grief, what's this tiger's problem? A silly little artifact wasn't worth the trouble! Someone or something was about to get hurt if he didn't stop. I swear, if this chase didn't end any time soon then I'd be getting Tiger's Blood as my next smoothie flavor that's freshly extracted from his irritating corpse.

Speaking of blood, we passed a large and spacious Zootopian hospital in which a couple of nurses were appearing to be heading out for lunch break. Many of them dodged the vicious tiger hastily coming through but he decided to take a sharp left turn and cross another busy street once more. For the love of Pete, why couldn't he just stick to the alleyway? There he goes again.

There were two small female sheep nurses standing near the curbside. One had black wool, pink muzzle, and blue eyes while the other one had fluffy white wool, red glasses, and green eyes. The cowardly tiger plowed straight through them, knocking both of them over like a bunch of bowling pins, and running away without apology. The black sheep laid flat on her back at the curbside edge but the white sheep had toppled over onto the busy street. Time was running out, the tiger was getting away, but an elephant-sized semi-truck was rapidly approaching and about to run her over. 

"Oh, muttonchops..." she cried, remaining frozen and helpless.

Without delay, I jumped over to the vulnerable sheep's side and held out my gauntlet for the screeching vehicle to stop. The horn was blaring, the breaks were slammed, but it was almost too late.

Upon loud impact, the entire front grill was completely smashed inward, smoke escaped from the thick engine, and the truck had come to a complete stop. My body absorbed most of the impact, I was actually okay for the most part, my body hardly moved, and the little sheep was successfully protected. However, I think my wrist was sprained and the truck got totaled.

"Oh, oh my, oh dear!" she gasped, cowering at what had just happened. The grizzly bear driver exited the vehicle and felt shocked at what he almost did, placing both paws over his mouth.

I helped the little sheep stand up. "You alright ma'am?" I hurriedly asked. 

"You...you saved me," she said gratefully, not knowing what else to say.

I made sure she had no critical injuries. Her medical badge read as Shawna B. whereas the black sheep's badge read as Sharla but there was no time to waste. The tiger was already across the street and wasn't coming back to repent. He shook his head in mere disapproval then took off once more. I stood up in place to put an end to this havoc. "Gotta go." 

"Sir? But...but sir?" she called.

There was no time to explain myself. I breezed through the rows of incoming traffic, the shattered truck headlight glass flickered off my suit, and I was on the move again. The tiger turned a brick corner, shoved his way through an old moose handing out Zootopia Times newspapers that flung everywhere, and climbed his way up a flight of iron stairs. I had desires to assist the moose but his apparent misfortune wasn't crucial enough; hopefully, someone else would assist him.

I made my way up the stairwell, there were about three flights going up to who knows where, but they must've led to a skytrain platform, judging the looks of the adorned iron frame finish. Just when I reached the top, I looked left, saw no one. Then, I looked right then a large striped paw instantly came into view and smacked me directly in the face with full force.

The sudden impact caused me to fall backward, tumble down the stairway, roll through a series of painful somersaults, then flatten out on my sore back.

Ow...

It probably left a mark too. My suit always endured well in rough situations but a soldier often forgets that the human body is still fragile on the inside. Come to think of it, I've been having quite a bit of head trauma lately. I felt the deep claw marks across my mask but the displaced nanoparticles quickly repositioned themselves back to fill in the gaps.

Gradually recovering from what came to pass, I peered upward at the top of the stairs and vaguely saw the same striped figure proudly brushing off his paws in satisfaction.

"How do you like that? FREAK! Maybe you'll think THRICE before messing with me!"

I painstakingly stood up in place, using the rail to provide balance, popped my back a few times, then folded my arms in place. This seemed to surprise the tiger a bit but he continued to roll his eyes at me as if my efforts to catch him were completely futile. He was really getting on my nerves now.

"Yeah, you keep rolling your eyes," I commented. "Maybe you'll find a brain back there."

He snarled in aggression, giving me a hateful glare while attempting to make himself appear more intimidating. "Whatever you are, LEAVE me alone!" he growled with a warning. "You don't know what I'm going through!" "Nor do I care. Surrender the case."

"Never!"

He picked up the case then fled once more. What a coward. There's no way we'd end on that kind of note so it was time to put an end to this. Yes, I've been telling myself that ever since the chase started but now I felt more than determined to finish the job. The stairway felt painful to ascend again but I ignored the pain and pressed onward. I remembered the tiger disappearing to the right so I took that path and followed it down the iron walkway.

The pathway curved upward, converted into an overpass, crossed the busy highway, then gradually curved downward into a series of apartment building rooftops. At the end of the walkway, there was an apparent dead-end that had an old elevator that was out of service. The doors were made of solid-looking steel so there's no chance that the brawny tiger could've pried his way through those double doors. Crap! I lost him again!

I peeked over the banister in one direction, saw nothing, so I peeked over the other side of the banister. Still nothing. I felt a deep sense of defeat for I was so close to catching him. Too close, in fact, until he conveniently planned an ambush on me to take advantage of the high ground. There was nothing else to do here except look pathetic so it was time for me to go.

Out of nowhere, I heard a loud clanking sound. I turned my head as fast as a serpent and peaked over the same banister. There he was!

He walked along the apartment rooftops, using the fashion clothing billboards as cover, but he accidentally grazed his shoulder on one of the blunt edges. Thus, he unintentionally gave up his position. Perfect! Back in business again.

I mantled myself over the edge of the banister, dropped down about twenty feet, and landed upright on a rooftop porch. My boots cracked the red tiles of a rooftop porch but I didn't care at this point. I hopped roof to roof, apartment complex to apartment complex until I came closer to the desperate tiger. He too continued to maneuver his way through the rooftops while keeping a tight pawed grip on the briefcase's handle to avoid dropping it.

He almost couldn't believe it but I was right above him. The moment he saw my looming shadow getting bigger, he threw up his paws in severe frustration.

"You GOTTA be kidding me!" he groaned.

"Give it to me," I said with a stern tone.

 "NO!"

We continued on with the rooftop chase, crossed over from one area to the next, walking across wooden planks, breezing through metal catwalks, fumbling through colorful clotheslines, dodging clusters of satellite/movie antennas, sliding down sandstone shingles, and carefully striding through the rooftop vegetable gardens. There was a piglet couple casually watering their tomato plants but they cried out in fear and vanished into their miniature rooftop greenhouse upon the sight of a vicious striped tiger being chased away.

He leaped onto the next building, never showing any signs of fatigue, and consistently kept fleeing as much as he could. I wasn't so sure how much more energy I could muster but I had to toughen myself up.

We both came to the edge of the apartment building rooftops then the tiger, all of a sudden, stopped in place. He was stuck.

No other rooftop in sight that he could possibly jump to. Splendid! He frantically looked around for an alternative route but the odds weren't so much in his favor anymore. He gave me a panicked look, tried to think of what he could do, but there was nothing he could do.

I caught up to him, jumped up on the same roof he stood on, slowly stood up in a confident manner, and took a step towards him. There was a moment of silence between us both so I figured it was time to end this peacefully.

I lifted my arm, opened my hand with the palm facing up, and gestured him to hand over the case. He considered doing it, hesitated, reconsidered, then did what I regrettably knew he was going to do.

He smiled slyly, tossed the briefcase over the six-story ledge, and slowly backed up towards the edge. What was he thinking? Committing suicide? No, he had something else in mind.

Instead, he jumped back, twisted his hip around the ledge, gripped the vertical rain pipe tubing, and slid his way down the building as if it were a fireman's pole. I peaked over the edge and watched his brave performance escape before my eyes.

No way he's getting away from me. Time to end this. I too jumped over the edge.

However, I was failing to grip the rain pipe, failing to gracefully twist myself, and epically began plummeting down to the Earth. Nevertheless, despite the situation being less than ideal, I had my contingencies.

Before hitting the ground, I punched my fist into the side of the building, tearing through layers upon layers of brick, which slowed down my descent so that I could safely land upright. The building had a large strip of exterior damage but it was none of my concern.

We were now back down to street level, just like before, only this time, we were surrounded by apartment buildings of all shapes and sizes. Very few animals were out and about and thank goodness they weren't around because this scene wasn't going to be the most family-friendly.

The tiger thought he could nimbly escape from me but he only fooled himself. He saw what had happened, became spooked, and froze in place after picking up the briefcase. I shrugged my shoulders, brushed the brick powder off my gauntlets, and took big steps towards him.

He furrowed his eyebrows, put himself into a running stance, and, without warning, aggressively lunged straight at me.

Surprisingly, he landed a successful tackle on me, took me down, clawed my mask a couple of times, and began slicing at my chest plate. He was fast, he was ruthless, he was unwavering, and he had me pinned.

"Ha!  You're going to regret this!" he roared, continuously trying to mutilate me.

He couldn't hurt me. He thought he was so I pretended to groan in pain to test his pride.  However, he managed to weaken the wolf mask, causing a piece to chip off.

Wasting no further time, he resorted to punching.  I held out my hand, caught his large fist in mid-air, squeezing it tightly. 

"Enough," I glared, before kicking him away from me, causing him to fly a couple of feet and crash into a street pole. 

"Argh!" he growled as he rubbed his nose and struggled to stand back up. "What was that for!?"

 I too stood up in place and repositioned myself. "The briefcase,"  I commanded. "Give it to me."

"No! Not a chance," the tiger held onto it tightly. "I need this."

"I will not ask a second time."

I slowly walked towards him but he cautiously backed away from me while tightly gripping the suitcase with his paws. My hope was to ensure he either had fear or respect towards me but he demonstrated none of the above, which, quite frankly, was beyond frustrating.

Based on his facial expressions, he still had a preservable amount of confidence in him and continued looking for an alternate escape route. He could either go left, right, or straight back behind him which only led to a dark alleyway that appeared to have no outlet whatsoever. Alternatively, he could be a fool and try to go straight through me which is exactly what he was thinking of doing. Seriously?

He looked both ways again, smiled with his big chompers revealed, and showed no sign of fear. For some reason, I felt like he was leading me into an ambush.  Were his buddies positioned to take me? The very thought of it was slightly concerning.

Notwithstanding any further, I took a deep breath, moved one step backward, and anxiously checked my surroundings. All I saw were dark buildings, shut blinds, and nothing else.

The tiger smiled in satisfaction and did exactly what I thought he was going to do.

He picked up a nearby steel crowbar, propped it up into a swinging position, and prepared to go after me. His grin was as horrifying as the Cheshire Cat, his conviction was strong, and he immediately lunged after me.

Not this time, I thought, doing what I should've done a long time ago. Within seconds, I deployed my nano wrist blade.

"Woah, Woah, what the!" he exclaimed, falling over in panic.

I just about had it with this pathetic tiger. Sometimes, a deadly display of force was the only way to get some respect these days, especially in my universe.

He began crawling backward, his eyes fixated in fear, and I forced him back into the dark alleyway where he'd have no more chance of escape. We moved thirty-seven feet inward, as far as we could, until the scared tiger's back tapped into a dumpster, which marked the end of the alleyway. I kept my pistols firmly aimed at him and enjoyed this dominating moment that mankind had always relished.

"Stay where you are!" I ordered.

The tiger had absolutely nothing to say, fear-filled his once-proud eyes, and he quickly realized that he had messed with the wrong creature. Nothing would please me more than to shoot him. After all, crooks of his type were subject to execution back in my day.

With such trying times in our world, we had zero tolerance for this kind of ratty behavior. Nevertheless, I somehow resisted the urge to fire.

He continued sitting there in a state of panic, not knowing what to do or how to proceed. Instinctively, he reached for the briefcase to secure it but I aggressively stomped my boot on the ground.

"Drop it!" I commanded, causing him to freeze in place. "Or I'll slit your throat."

The tiger immediately dropped the case.

I bent over to pick up the black briefcase. Next, I unzipped it, pried it open, and pulled out the so-called 'artifact' or 'antique' to see what this was all about.

Could it be a detonator, a quantum chip, or a rare earth metal?  None of the above.

Apparently, it was only a necklace. Seriously?   That was all he stole?

I expressed great dismissal at the worthless-looking object until I realized just how shiny it was. It consisted of finely engraved twenty-four karat gold, sparkling white diamonds, finely crafted loops, and a paw-shaped red diamond. A bit of a silly design, to be completely honest, but it had real weight to it and I could easily tell that it had extreme value to it. Yes, it was one hundred percent real and authentic.

I carefully rested the necklace atop the leather suitcase, deployed my other pistol, and kept both pointed at the tiger's head. After all the trouble he'd caused today, not to mention the animal that almost got killed, I tried to decide on what to do with him.

"Please, PLEASE don't!" he begged in horror, cowering in his arms.

The amount of fear and hopelessness that filled his eyes made me smile greatly. Only now, did he finally understand, the consequences of his regrettable actions.

In short, the situation was now under control.

That is, I thought it was.

Within seconds, the entire dark alley lit up with a white light that glowed so bright that it felt like midday. It came from behind me, illuminating everything that wasn't covered by my overcasting shadow. I kept my body forward, with my back against the bright light, and wondered where in the world it came from.

I knew it likely came from the alleyway entrance but I couldn't tell what source it was exactly. I kept my eyes forward, fixed on the tiger in front of me, to make sure he wasn't playing any escape tricks.

The bright light finally dimmed a bit but the whole area then converted into flashing blue and red lights that flickered back and forth from behind. Obviously, I knew who it was.

The Police.

I heard the opening of a car door followed by the loud sound of thunderous footsteps stomping towards us before stopping a few feet away. The brightness on the back wall gave off an imposing shadow silhouette of what appeared to be bulky rhinos.  Great.

There were at least two of them, maybe more along the way. I heard them draw their weapons, whatever they were.

"Alright buddy, turn around with your paws up!" one of them commanded me.

I slowly turned around, seeing nothing more than a red fox in a cop uniform.