Nox rubbed the back of his neck as he looked at Zee and Chet, throwing a lazy smile over his shoulder.
"After the last ride my internals need some adjusting," he threw a thumb toward the restrooms.
"Be right back."
Zee's tail swung behind her.
"Try not to get lost!"
They waved Nox off without further questions.
The crowds were thickest near the main attractions, laughter and music spilling out in every corner.
Some people threw up here, leaving only green goop on the floor.
"Ewww, let's not step in that, shall we?"
Nox took a few careful leaps over the puddles as one last jump led him to the restroom door.
Just as he was about to enter, he heard someone talking through a mask, an Enforcer mask, the voice was dampened.
Nox stopped.
"Remember, we look out for this guy here."
Nox peeked around the corner.
Two Enforcers were walking by with a note.
"He should be somewhere around here, am I right?"
Nox mumbled to himself.
"They can't be after me, I've still got some time left."
He lingered, hidden by the restroom wall, loosely peeking around the corner with one eye.
The two Enforcers patrolled the area around a matte-black van parked near the service gates, low and heavy.
The word =ENFORCERS= gleamed across the side in polished gold metallic letters, too clean, too proud, almost like a threat.
Nothing to be associated with a citizen.
The van's sirens were dead. No lights. No warning.
The Enforcers were both in black tactical jackets and face-covering masks.
One flicked a crumpled sheet of paper open, holding it up briefly before tucking it back in his pocket as he hissed,
"Hey, that's him," toward his colleague.
They moved as Nox tucked away.
He feared that they had spotted him.
He prepared to bail, beginning to run with one foot already leaving the ground, until he heard someone scream around the corner.
"Hey, you stop!"
He froze, suddenly a bone-rattling rumble shook the ground, as if a dozen lightning bolts hit the ground.
Perhaps it wasn't him they were after.
He slowly turned around, peeking around the wall yet again as he followed the motion with his eyes.
They didn't want Nox.
The target was a light-brown squirrel, small, thin, twitching with nerves ,carrying a box of supplies toward an open staff fence.
The Enforcers had slammed him against the wall, the box crashing to the ground in a burst of broken trinkets.
"Hey! What are you doing?! I didn't do anything!"
The squirrel tried to get loose of their grip but without finding success.
They ignored him, patting him down rough.
One hand disappeared into the striped black-and-white CoreCoaster vest, his official worker uniform.
It came back out of his pocket clutching a small, clear packet of dust.
The squirrel's eyes widened as he thrashed.
"That's not mine! I swear!"
No answer.
One Enforcer twisted the employee's arms behind his back; the other pulled out a pair of handcuffs, putting them on.
Nox crouched, back against the wall, slipping behind stacked crates near a half-open maintenance door the squirrel must have used earlier.
They dragged the squirrel toward the van, shoving him in like unwanted luggage.
Before they threw him in, one of the guards punched the squirrel's jaw, knocking him unconscious.
Nox flinched away for a second, almost feeling the punch land on his own jaw.
The Enforcers' knuckles were tainted in blood as it splattered off the squirrel's mouth right against the van.
A couple of teeth fell out.
Then a panda arrived at the scene, stepping out of an employee building nearby.
Big. Sweaty. A stained business shirt barely tucked into his slacks.
His fake smile peeled wider as he walked towards the two Enforcers.
"Now that he's gone, I can finally breathe again. Kid had a little too much detective in him."
He laughed, choking on his own joke, while fumbling a cigarillo out of his pocket.
He lit it.
Both Enforcers pulled off their masks.
A golden-furred cheetah, dotted in black stains, her size was medium, hissed at the colleague
"You didn't have to punch him unconscious, you know."
Nox peeked out a little further, ears twitching carefully, examining their conversation.
The other Enforcer, who was about one head larger, a panther, shrugged.
"You think I'll let the chance slip to beat someone up, hah?"
His fur was dark, and his figure was large and frightening. He had a scar that was slightly above his right eye.
"Besides that, we can finally take off these damn masks. I can hardly breathe under this shit!"
He clenched his fists in anger.
"Too much justice isn't good for anyone," the cheetah looked back at the van, a faint glimpse of sincerity in it.
"Right, H-Hahha..."
The panda puffed the cigarillo and snapped his fingers as if suddenly remembering himself.
"Uh... but... don't forget my part of the deal."
The panther laughed low, pulling a stun stick from his belt.
Blue arcs danced along its length as electricity flew.
Bzzzzzzzzttzzzp.
"Your part?"
His voice thickened with amusement.
"You're lucky my kids like this dump. I'd haul your fat ass in this van first if you weren't handing out free tickets to me."
He tapped his jaw with his fingers, mimicking a thinking pose.
"What do you think my boss would say if I found out that a specific panda had been secretly skimming CoreCo's loans under his belt, huh?"
The panda stiffened, sweat soaking through his shirt as he dropped the cigarillo to the ground.
"Okay, okay," he muttered.
"Just... get out of here."
"Yeah," the panther rumbled, finally speaking.
"Hey, don't forget the malfunction of the CoreCup, okay?
Don't let anyone die, but maybe some injuries come better in the headline."
The panda adjusted his business shirt with anxiety.
"Wait, you were serious about that? Why would you?"
The panther dashed toward him, showing off his claws by slowly ripping at the shirt of the panda.
"Easy, hombre.
More malfunctions mean more Enforcers.
It's just securing our job here, you know?
I mean, you got this drug addict squirrel to blame here, right?
Don't worry, we will create the paperwork...
Addict squirrel causes malfunction in CoreCoaster.
Sounds good, right?"
The panda tried to smirk with a faint but loose smile.
"Hah, funny but, actually I dropped that powder in his uniform so you could—"
The panther hauled, ARRRGH, striking fear into the panda's eyes, flashing his teeth.
The panda ducked low.
"Aahhh—"
"We know it was part of the deal, you idiot.
Now shut up."
The Enforcers turned around to leave the scene, as Nox shifted to move, knocking over a loose pole.
The clang cracked through the alley like a gunshot.
The cheetah snapped her head around and the panther's ears twitched.
Both Enforcers immediately turned around to creep toward the crates, weapons half-raised, slowly walking toward Nox.
"Who is there?!"
Nox held his breath, tucking as tight against the door as possible.
Luckily for him, the barrel had rolled toward the opposite side of the alley.
They searched briefly, but the alley was empty.
"Must've been the wind," the cheetah
grunted.
"Place is falling apart anyway," the panther added.
The van door slammed. Tires crunched over gravel.
They were gone, leaving only the panda on the ground, his shirt slightly ripped as he still rested there, muttering to himself.
"Next time I will show them, yeah definitely next time."
His words were empty, like someone who had been praying too long.
The cigarillo left next to him, dying on the floor.
Nox exhaled shakily.
"Good grief, let's get out of here."
He peeled himself from the shadows and drifted finally into the restroom.
He felt the anger first. Hot. Useless.
Then the despair followed, heavy, dragging at his feet.
He tried to shrug it off.
Tried to tell himself it was nothing.
"Poor fellow."
But that's just how it works in Coreline.
After he used the restroom, he stepped outside the cabinet where he faced the panda.
They had a brief stare-down before Nox quickly stepped out of the toilet, tucking his head low and collar up as he drifted back into the crowd.
Back toward his friends.