Chapter Text
The squirrel adjusted his glasses as he waited for the traffic light to blink green for a few seconds, and when it did, he walked onto the street and headed to the building that was six stories tall. It was the headquarters of the news channel called Rota City NEWS. The squirrel breathed through his nose and entered. He knew he had to do his job right if he wanted to earn a big profit. He looked around inside. The news station looked fine enough, although, the dirt spots on the tile floors as well as the mess on some of the chairs meant that the place wasn't… savory for his taste. At the front desk was a receptionist typing on her keyboard on her computer. When the squirrel approached, she looked at him with a smile.
''How can I help you, sir?'' The squirrel cleared his throat.
''H-Hi, my name is Colton Nuts. I'm here for Mr. Millers.'' She typed on her computer for a few seconds.
''Ah, yes, Mr. Millers will be here at any moment. He's at lunch break right now, so-''
''Who's saying I was having a lunch break?'' a deep gruff voice said. The receptionist and the squirrel gasped and he turned to see a human with a beard, trenchcoat, loose tie, brown suit, and tennis shoes.
''Oh! Mr. Millers!'' Colton said. ''I didn't expect you to be there so soon!'' Nathan Millers, the executive producer for the Rota City NEWS, met with Colton yesterday and although he was nervous and shy, Nathan liked the squirrel and figured that he deserved to have a good time to relax. He gave the squirrel a pat on the shoulder and chuckled.
''Hey, nobody eats fast like I do. Some called me Fast Millers. Can you believe that?'' he laughed. Colton laughed nervously.
''Uuuh, yeah. I mean, yes sir, Mr. Millers.'' Nathan motioned his head at the squirrel to follow him. They walked upstairs where they would get a quick tour around the news station, where they saw electronic equipment, a camera, and a studio for the news anchors. Nathan opened the door and allowed Colton to enter a conference room. After he closed the door, Nathan sat on one of the chairs and sighed, leaning back.
''Another f*cking day…'' Colton sat on one of the chairs.
''Oh, Mr. Millers, don't you remember our objective in here?'' Colton said while Nathan looked at him. ''Our job is to entertain the audience, right? Surely we can entertain ourselves.'' Nathan scoffed.
''Yeah, that's for damn sure,'' he said. ''I can hardly survive without it.''
''Then I'm sure you heard of the incident about the Rota City police officer beating up a DTG member on a public sidewalk, right?'' Nathan nodded.
''Oh yeah. People go crazy about that stuff these days. As soon as he talked about it on the internet, they started demanding the city officials to release the body cam footage.''
''But shouldn'tweask the officials for the raw body cam footage? The people deserve to
know the truth.'' Nathan shook his head.
''Can't do that. Releasing it will cause a major scandal.'' Colton widened his eyes. How come he didn't use his power as executive producer to get to the truth?
''You're kidding!'' Nathan shrugged and looked at him with a blank stare.
''Sorry kid. That's just the way it is. Besides, it's not part of our entertainment for the public.'' Colton knew that something was up. If Nathan was just going to shrug it off like that, then it's no wonder why the news station wanted to keep it quiet.
Sometime later, Colton walked out of the building and took the button from his trenchcoat, and pressed it, making it blink red. He had been recording their interaction with his body cam footage the entire time. After he put it in his pocket, he went to the alleyway, hid behind a dumpster, and took off his clothes while nobody was looking. After a few minutes, he walked out. He was now in his own uniform. He pressed the button on his left earpiece.
''Agent Kleftis. This is Agent Sciurus. Do you copy?''
''Copy,señor,'' Peludo said. ''We've made the FJA agent give back the money to the rabbit family that he stole via civil forfeiture.''
''Well, Agent Kleftis, I think you and your girlfriend might need to steal something for me. I've spoken to Nathan Millers. He told me that he doesn't want to ask the Rota City officials for the body cam footage that they refused to show.''
''Ai dios mio.I knew they had something to hide. Don't worry,señor. Me and my love will do the job. You just keep doing what you do best.'' The squirrel nodded.
''Understood. Good luck.'' At 5:35 PM, the squirrel along with the cameraman walked to a burger restaurant, and when they saw Nathan Millers, he was looking at his phone on one of the wide-spaced seats that was near the entrance. After the two entered, they were allowed to approach Nathan. The squirrel sat on the seat in front of Nathan and smiled, more confidently than the last time he spoke to him.
''Hi, Mr. Millers, Shinjitsu Akira at Veritas Times.''
Shinjitsu Akira was his real name. Colton Nuts was a code name he gave himself in order to infiltrate the news station. Nathan looked at the squirrel-like he expected him to meet him there. Shinjitsu grabbed his iPhone and after some tapping, he showed a video that recorded the same conversation he had with Nathan to him. ''So, we have you on video saying that your goal at Rota City NEWS was to 'entertain the audience for your news', is that correct?'' Nathan did not respond. ''We also have you on video saying that you refuse to release the raw body cam footage that showed the incident that you and I talked about, and you admitted that it's 'not part of your entertainment for the public.' Is that true, sir?''
Again, Nathan did not reply. Shinjitsu co*cked his head and raised his eyebrow.
''...Sir?'' After some more tapping on his iPhone, he put it back into his pocket and gave Shinjitsu a long look. Suddenly, everyone else looked at the squirrel and the cameraman and stood up.
The waiter approached them, and they all grabbed their handguns from their pockets and aimed it at them. Shinjitsu and the cameraman gasped. Shinjitsu recognized that they were all goons working for the World Journalism Organization. The cameraman was grabbed on his neck and arms by three men. His camera was taken then thrown to the ground and smashed by the other man's foot, breaking it into pieces. Shinjitsu got out of his seat and his mouth and eyes widened. Anthony gasped as his body quivered. His heartbeat raced and cold sweat poured from his forehead.
''Anthony!'' The waiter along with the other man touched his forehead with their gun, ready to pull the trigger if Shinjitsu were to do anything. He looked back at Nathan. ''So this is one of your intimidation tactics, Mr. Millers?'' Nathan crossed his arms and glared at Shinjitsu as the squirrel positioned himself in his martial arts fighting stance.
''Delete the video, Shinjitsu. It's for your own good.'' Shinjitsu darted his eyes left and right, trying to think of a plan. He looked around the restaurant and saw the salt and pepper on the table next to him. He glanced at the two men and smirked. He quickly grabbed the salt and pepper with his tail and threw them toward the two men. They flinched and grunted. Shinjitsu went to throw his punch to one's man face and then threw his kick to the other. They were knocked to the ground. Anthony sighed in relief.
''Thanks, Shinjitsu.'' Shinjitsu nodded at him and saw several other men aiming their guns at him. He raised his left hand to gesture to Anthony to stay back. He nodded and ran toward the exit.
As he heard a gunfire, he ran toward the men and began to throw his punches and kicks at them. He grabbed one of their guns and kicked him in the stomach, causing him to reel in pain. He knelt on the ground, giving Shinjitsu the perfect opportunity to land on his back. He jumped and kicked one man in the face, knocking him to the ground. They continued to fire, but Shinjitsu quickly dodged the bullets and jumped to the ceiling. He ran to the wall like a squirrel he was and jumped toward the man. He wrapped his legs around his neck. He wrapped around his torso, and span around. He managed to kick all of the nearby thugs, knocking them to the ground. He stopped himself and kneeled on the man's face to slam his head onto the ground. They were all defeated and the bewildered Nathan flinched.
''What the hell?'' Shinjitsu adjusted his tie before approaching Nathan.
''Now then… Would you mind explaining this to me, please?'' Nathan shook and after he looked left and right, he ran to the door and busted it on his way out. ''Stop!'' Shinjitsu ran to the exit. The cameraman saw the two running, and he decided to run along with the squirrel. They chased after him while he was running on the sidewalk. Shinjitsu ran, catching up with him, and looked at him from his left. ''Mr. Millers. Why are you running away from us, sir?'' he panted.
Nathan ignored him and continued to run when he saw another restaurant in the left corner. He managed to cross the street and the traffic blocked Shinjitsu and the cameraman's path. That allowed Nathan to run to the entrance door and close it. The two panted for several more seconds as Shinjitsu gave the cameraman a thumbs up. After they recovered, the cameraman smiled.
''Damn, you were amazing back there, Shinjitsu!''
''Thanks. It's a good thing I had the whole thing captured on this body cam,'' Shinjitsu said, grabbing the button from his suit which blinked red.
''Oh, thank God. I'm sure the viewers on PawTube will be amazed at your brave attempt at fighting those punks!'' he said, smiling. Shinjitsu chuckled and his tail shook.
''They might. But we still have work to do, my friend. Follow me.'' They both walked away as Nathan glared at the two from the window. He hoped he would never see them again. Although he knew it would ruin his reputation now that they found out the true colors of his news station, he'd prefer to have that than let some meddling journalists record him without his consent.
