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Savannah Central - Snarlbucks - On the Corner of Screech Ave. and Pride St. Friday - 06:15 PM - Few Clouds / Mostly Sunny

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"Absolutely not!" They both cried in unison.

Murana hadn't even taken her first sip of her white chocolate, macadamia nut latte before Billy Silva strolled into the coffee shop, got to one knee and offered a wilted lotus to Steven. Both she and Courtney knew what that meant and they were shocked beyond belief.

For Courtney, this rival in affections had the brazen gall to waltz in here and try to take her man away. For Murana, she had barely gotten over the fact this crazy skunk was to be her daughter-in-law, and now an unusual acquaintance and business partner was vying for a spot in her family.

"Get up. You're embarrassing yourself." Murana snapped. "What are you even doing here?"

"What does it look like? I'm professing my feelings." Billy stated matter-of-factly.

He was attracting a lot of stares by the onlookers in the café. It was uncommon enough to have proposals to court another in public like this, it was even more so when it was a fox and a skunk involved. Steven was completely flabbergasted at the gesture. He knew what it meant, that Billy was interested in dating with intent to marry if it worked out, but the fact his mother, brother and his current girlfriend nearby watching this was making his cheeks flush something fierce.

"And he will be rejecting them right now, won't you, Steven?" Courtney seemed supremely confident at his answer, feeling she provided plenty for him. She was ready for marriage. However, she took Murana's strong advice to allow the relationship to progress naturally, and she was not going to let this upstart fox take him away from her.

"Billy, this is highly unprofessional. You said we would not be meeting in public like this!" Murana hissed, her grip nearly crushing her freshly made latte.

Billy looked up at the looming figure of his potential mother-in-law, "I am not here in any official capacity, Murana. I'm here to express myself to the one I've fallen for."

"Based on what? His scent? Since when did you two have any sort of contact outside of that one time back in The Fox Den?" She was not finding this funny at all.

"Well...we did exchange numbers and we've been texting back and forth." Steven said meekly, his entire posture shrinking as the two females near him glared.

"You've been doing what?!" Courtney was beside herself, shaking violently. "You promised me we'd be together and get married!"

"He actually promised you nothing." Max stepped out from behind Murana, being helpful as always.

"Can it, Max!" She roared. "You will be rejecting his proposal and you will be rejecting it now, Steven!" Courtney was practically frothing at the mouth.

Steven glanced from Billy's heartfelt eyes, to Courtney's burning snarl, to Murana's incredulous look and back to Billy. Steeling himself for the ensuing apocalypse, he puffed out his chest as he addressed her, "Courtney, I'm not sure this is working out. You're kind of crazy and very...um...lusty?" He couldn't find the word. "I've been trying so hard to figure out a way to let you down easy, but I'm just not interested in marrying you."

Murana mumbled under her breath as she took another sip of her latte, "Thank goodness. Another problem down, a new one arises."

Murana was personally not looking forward to having that skunk as her daughter-in-law. Courtney was a bit unhinged at times, and although she was grateful for her rescue a month back with Jack Savage, she couldn't abide by her mannerisms and complete lack of respect for her son's opinions and wants. It was just very hard to get her steady enough to listen that made it difficult to express this.

Courtney's jaw dropped as she saw her love being snatched away by a conniving fox. She bristled with indignation and bellowed as she made a charge at the fox, paws out to strangle his neck. Before anyone could react, let alone Murana who had no interest in stopping it, Billy whipped out a small syringe from his pocket and sidestepped her lunge, plunging the needle into her neck as he caught her fall in his arms. She instantly fell asleep as he gently laid her onto the floor.

"Nobody be alarmed." Billy tried to assuage the shocked cries from the surrounding crowd. "It wasn't anything harmful. Just a little something to give her a nice, calming nap so she can cool her jets." This drew a few nervous chuckles nearby. Getting back on one knee and representing the lotus, he asked Steven again, "Will you go out with me?"

After looking back at his mom and brother, Steven turned to Billy before nodding bashfully. "Yes...Yes!" He flew into Billy's arms as they hugged each other tightly. Both firm and awkward clapping began to spread throughout the café.

"We certainly have a weird family, don't we, Mom?" Max stepped up beside her and held her paw.

"We certainly do..." She agreed, taking another sip.

"What the hell did I miss?" Anthony rumbled in, finally having claimed his drink from the barista to find Courtney comatose on the floor with his skunk son hugging a silver fox.

"The usual craziness that our family seems to attract." Murana smirked, walking over to give him a lick on the cheek.

Anthony rolled his eyes, "I'm not going to clean this up." He nudged Courtney with a hindpaw. "Do I need to call this in?"

Murana giggled, "No, she'll be fine."

Anthony froze as he realized the strangeness of the situation. "Murana, you do know that's a fox propositioning our son, right?"

Murana shrugged as she continued to nurse her latte. "I've had similar partners in the past, well before I met you." She added, to clarify any misunderstandings.

Anthony blinked at her. "A...male...fox." He accentuated the point.

"That's the least of my reservations about this relationship." She seemed unfazed.

He squinted. "We're going to have to have a long talk later tonight."

"Shame, though." Max commented, regarding the female skunk snoozing happily. "She is very pretty."

Murana's eyes bulged as she stared down at her second son, "Don't tell me you're interested in taking her for yourself. You're way too young for love right now and she's a bit old for you."

"Not to mention insane." Anthony laughed as Murana whapped him on the arm for the comment.

"Nah..." Max shook his head, still regarding the skunk. "I really don't want my brother's sloppy seconds."

"Savage." Anthony marveled. "I like him. I'm glad we adopted him." He gestured to Max with his coffee cup. "Anyway, we have to get to work, babe, your first day on the job and all. I really don't think we should renege on your conditions for continued freedom."

Murana sighed as she asked a few bystanders to help her get Courtney into a booth to sleep off the rest of the drug Billy gave her. "Yeah, I'm still not really comfortable about doing this, but I've no choice if I don't want to go to jail." She whispered as they all headed out the door.

"Well, you could always hang up the mask and just live a normal life operating as a bank CEO. That's not a bad gig either." Anthony suggested, downing the rest of his cup before tossing it in the nearest trash.

She shook her head, "No, I don't think I could live with myself if I wasn't able to help out others." Taking a deep sigh, she looked over at the squad car where Fangmeyer, Anthony's tiger partner, sat waiting. "I'm a bit nervous. I'm afraid if I feel they deserve punishment enough, I could go overboard."

"That's why I'll be there to help stop you." Max said, patting her on the paw.

"My own little moral compass, huh?" She beamed at him, ruffling the fur between his ears.

"Are you sure it's wise that we have him tag along with you up there?" Anthony indicated the rooftops. "He is still very young, not even qualified for police work and could get seriously hurt. Not to mention he's our son."

"Technically speaking, I'm not qualified for police work either." Murana pointed out. "If you recall, this is all off-the-books and hush-hush, regardless of whatever drug deal they worked out with the DA. Neither the courts nor the general public know I am on retainer to the ZPD assisting like a special operative as a condition for my freedom. Having him along wouldn't really change or make the overall situation any better. So it's best that we're both unknown agents in the grand scheme of things." She smiled. "Besides, I've been training him these last few weeks. I think he has a lot of potential!"

"That and I get to be a super hero!" Max said proudly, placing a fist on either hip.

"Not quite, little squirt." Anthony chuckled, heading over to the cruiser.

"Ah, there is one piece of business I did want to conduct with you." Billy tapped Murana on the shoulder.

"What is it? We're about to go to work." She propped a paw on her waist, waiting for him to get on with it.

Billy pulled out a few spherical balls and gave a few to both her and Max. "Your son accidently left his scent canister at my workshop under the Fox Den, which is almost renovated for a grand reopening, by the way." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Which AJ has expressed he wants you to come check out sometime." Back to normal volume. "I took the initiative to use his musk to create a few more stink bombs for you."

She gratefully took and placed them into her pockets. "Thank you. These could really come in handy."

He nodded. "You are still my best repeat customer after all. If they are allowing you to continue this line of work, then I'll be willing to assist in any way possible; provided the funds continue to flow into my account that is." He winked at her.

Steven's face brightened up with an idea. "Hey, maybe that's a way I can help you guys out!" All eyes turned to him. "I was always feeling down that I didn't have the aptitude Max did when it came to fighting or any of that gymnastic stuff you do. If you still need my musk for your weapons, I think I would be okay with providing that now!"

Murana expressed some concern, "You sure about that, Steven? You spent a good portion of your life terrified of being musked again since I found you."

"I think I'll be okay if I know it is to help you out, Mom." Steven put on his best goofy grin.

"Relax, Mrs. Wolford, I think I have a few humane ideas of how I can pump the musk out of your son." Billy gave a sly grin, regarding Steven's butt.

Murana coughed loudly to regain his attention, "I am still his mom and I am watching you." She made a point to use two fingers to emphasize the threat. "Don't think I'm totally okay with this...relationship right now. We have a lot to discuss."

"Babe, let's go!" Anthony hollered out the window of the cruiser.

"See you later, little stinker." Murana bent low to kiss Steven on the cheeks before running over to Anthony and Fangmeyer, Max in paw.

They had just shut the backseat doors and buckled in before Fangmeyer zoomed off down the road. They took a few hairpin turns before turning into an alley and shutting down all the lights. There were two piles of clothes in the back stacked neatly for them when they entered. As Anthony and Fangmeyer were looking out the windows for witnesses, Murana and Max were suiting up in the back. It was a tight fit, but they managed.

They stepped out of the car and Murana looked down to regard Max with his new suit. It was primarily purple in hues, with garish sweeping pauldrons that extended out past the shoulder. It was very angular in design to include the sharp edges where the mask ended past his eyes. The worst part, in her mind, was the sweeping purple cape that extended down to his ankles.

"What the hell is that?" She pointed at it.

Max looked back behind him. "That's my tail."

"No, that cape! What was Billy thinking?" She was now thinking of any manner of horrific ways he could die with a cape on.

"What? I liked it! I told him to give me a cape, just like a real super hero!" He seemed very pleased with his outfit, now having tried it on for the first time.

"No capes! They get caught in just about everything and could injure you severely! What was Billy thinking agreeing to this design?" Murana was about ready to call the whole thing off.

"It was my decision. I can handle this!" Max began to admire himself in the reflection of the car window.

Murana sighed, pinching the bridge of her snout in exasperation. "Fine...Fine! If you go and get yourself killed with the cape, I'm not going to come clean it up!"

"Thanks, Mom!" He smiled.

"Murana, take this." Anthony held out two ear pieces that fit perfectly in the opening cavity of the ear.

She and Max both nestled the small buds into their ears and tested it. "Can you hear me?" She asked.

"Loud and clear." Chief Bogo responded in her head.

"What the hell?" Murana was flummoxed that the chief would be monitoring the channel.

"Surprised?" There was mirth in his voice. "Like I would miss the inaugural re-debut of the Dark Flame Wolf on her maiden voyage with the ZPD. I'm here to ensure you don't stray from our agreement. I'm watching you every step of the way, here ready to sink your tail."

"Chief, can you stop threatening my wife?" Anthony riposted.

"When she has proven herself trustworthy in my eyes, then yes, I will." As an afterthought, "And don't talk that way to me again, Officer Wolford. You both better be damn grateful I allowed this at all. I could get in a lot of trouble by doing so, but I put my trust in my officers' judgment of her moral fiber and character, not to mention skills. Don't make me regret it."

A ringing in her clothes in the car caused Murana to dive in to grab her cell phone before Fangmeyer or Anthony could get to it. Pressing the button to talk, "Hey, Ronald, what's up? I'm about ready to head out on the town."

"I'm sure you are." The otter replied knowingly. "I was hoping to catch you before that happened. I'm glad I did."

"Make it fast." She reminded.

"You know those remaining totem fragments we've been collecting for disposal?" He waited until he heard a grunt from her. "Apparently, an interesting businessman named Shere Khan the Fifth called today inquiring into these fragments, asking if they could be returned to him immediately. They were stolen from him years ago and he got word that we are now in possession of them. He is willing to make a generous offer for their safe return."

"Tell him I'm not interested." Murana was curt. She didn't care who this person was, those totem pieces were dangerous and should be destroyed.

"He figured you might say that and warned you not to cross him." Ron seemed a bit amused at this, already knowing what Murana would say.

"You can tell him to fuck off, we're not interested." She paused a moment. "You can use those exact words. Thanks, Ron. Talk to you later." She clicked off and handed the phone to Anthony.

"You ready to do this? You don't have to go out there and risk your life like this." A hint of worry crossed his face.

Her expression softened as she leaned in for the kiss. "Like you don't put your life on the line every day being a cop? I've been doing this dangerous work far longer than you. I think I can handle myself and keep Max safe."

"I worry though..." He pressed.

"Anthony, stop." Murana laughed. "Don't be a hypocrite. I worry about you too every time you go to work. I'm left wondering if you'll be returning home each night. So, now here's my turn to help you. We'll be your eye in the sky. Okay?"

He nodded, reassuming his brave front. Fangmeyer sighed in the driver's seat. "I rather preferred you before I knew you as the Dark Flame Wolf."

"Anthony, slap your partner for me, will you? Thanks." Murana grinned with all her teeth before kissing him on the lips and heading over to Max. "You ready?"

"I am, Mom!" He stared at her directly.

"Onto my shoulders. We'll take it slow." She patted her collarbone.

Max sprung up onto her neck and coiled around as she extended out her arm and pressed the button on her wrist bracelets, shooting out a grappling hook skyward. It lodged into highest window sill and pulled them up. Flicking her wrists to extend her metal overclaws, she slammed her paws into the brick façade as she reached the apex, gouging deep holes into it. She climbed the rest of the way onto the rooftop and regained her bearings.

Fangmeyer had already drove out of the alley and was already cruising down the streets. She could hear Anthony in her ear. "We have two robberies on the south end of Tundra Town and an assault up on Tindle St. in the Rainforest District."

"I'll take the assault, you guys handle the robberies." Murana suggested.

"Approved." The voice of Bogo boomed in her mind.

"So nice of you to grant permission." Murana snarked.

"You're welcome." He responded, either not getting the jab or just plain not caring. "Time to see what you're made of."

Murana shook her head, looking down at the green light, dulled but still visible underneath her suit leggings. This was going to be quite the adjustment for her. This was her life now, moonlighting as a secretive ZPD enforcer under pain of eternal jail time while maintaining an illusion of normalcy being a bank CEO and mother to two adoptive kits. Tracked constantly and monitored daily, she had little privacy. Such was the penalty of her former lifestyle.

"Well, here goes nothing." Murana exhaled, gazing off into the distance across the skyscrapers to the distant jungle beyond of the Rainforest District. "Hang tight and I'll show you the ropes of how to move around this city for real, Max."

Feeling the tight squeeze of his little paws on her neck, she leapt off the building. Feeling the rush of air brush through her fur, she enjoyed the fall. It was moments like these that she treasured, being absolutely free and unhindered by the troubles of life, of being so in the moment that nothing else mattered. Opening her eyes after a few seconds, she gauged her next destination before extending out her paw and pressing the button.