Earlier that time

EPD (European Police Department), United Kingdom

Many police officers are currently busy with their own objectives, moving in or out of the station. Two fresh recruit officers wandered the station with their bio at Paw.

Stevens, a young Artic fox, and Wallace, a young cheetah. Both walked side by side. They've known each other since they were close friends and brothers in arms at the EPD Training Academy. With little to no experience about the current state of this station.

"Do you think they would accept us?" Stevens asked as he flipped the page of his bio, reading it and making sure every detail about himself was written.

Wallace nodded, confident that their interview would be a piece of cake, "Yes. Don't be nervous about it. All you have to remember is answer them why you chose this station? And so on," the feline said as he glanced at the nervous fox, "Just like what we practised, right?"

"Right." Stevens answered with a small nod.

As they continued their march to the Captain's office, along the way, both of them came upon a portrait of a certain ruler of England of the past era.

"She's beautiful, ain't she?" Wallace asked his friend softly while Stevens hummed, agreeing with the feline.

"I do wonder what happened to the humans?" Stevens asked.

Wallace shook his head, unsure of what will be the answer would be and why the previous rulers of this world had gone in an instant while leaving their technologies completely intact, "That's one in a  million answer. Most sources are not credible to human history." Wallace replied.

Stevens nodded in agreement as both of them continued their journey to the office. Until all of sudden, there was a blackout.

Both of them heard the panicked exclamation and gasps, either from the entire building. But, thanks to their excellent visions, they can still catch a glimpse of their surroundings even in the dark.

"Wallace. Do you have your phone?" Stevens asked as he put down the bio of his gently on the floor as he began to search throughout his pocket, looking for his phone.

"Yeah. I've got it." Wallace responded as he grabbed the phone from his chest pocket before powering it up and putting on the flashlight, illuminating the hallway.

Soon after, Stevens also got his phone's flashlight turned on, guiding the light to their surroundings.

"I don't think this is not just a normal blackout." Wallace wondered out loud, with suspension lingered to his voice.

"I can tell." Stevens admitted.

Before a Lynx in police uniform came at the end of the hallway as the duo pointed the flashlights at the feline, who were blinded temporarily.

"Geez. Don't point that at me!" The male Lynx in question, exclaimed. The duo immediately moved their flashlight.

The Lynx in question mouthed them a "Thank you." Before proceeding to ask them, "You guys are all right?"

Stevens nodded while Wallace answered, "Yes, we are good. Do you know what's going on?"

The Lynx shrugged, "Beats me. But I heard screams at the next corridor, so I would check it out." He replied.

Stevens and Wallace look at each other, confusion engulfed the trio, "Is there something wrong?" The Lynx asked, concerned.

"We didn't hear any screams or anything unusual." Stevens answered.

"That's strange." The Lynx replied and proceeded to walk towards the duo, "My name is Killian Rodaun." The Lynx finally introduced himself, "Who are you guys?" Killian asked them.

The duo immediately answered Killian's question by also introducing themselves. After that, Killian asked them what they were doing at the station before the sudden blackout. They replied that they are currently rookies who were about to file an application form for their job, which Killian understood.

"Well, then. Since this blackout is gonna last long and very unusual. Can you guys accompany me for a few minutes?" Killian asked for assistance.

Both Stevens and Wallace hesitate for a moment before finally giving in, "Sure!" Wallace answered.

Killian smiled before saying to follow him, which the duo obliged.

As they walked, the trio passed some other police officers along the way, and their journey were filled with silence as they enjoyed the accompany of each other.

Nearing the source that Killian was talking about, they could see several officers gathered at the entrance of seemed to be a briefing room. Until they several Sapient in uniforms carrying bodies of their comrades.

Wallace noticed something embedded at the bodies of the Sapients being carried out.

"Darts."

"What was that?" Stevens asked, while Killian moved further away from the duo and decided to help the others.

"Darts. Something is off." Wallace responded.

Then, out of nowhere, a powerful explosion rocked the building, while some police officers lost their balance as they stumbled at the ground, and Stevens also threw off balance, luckily, Wallace immediately tended his friend.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"Are we under attack?"

"This couldn't be the Asians, right?"

After that, a young ferret in a police officer came on all fours before saluting in front of the superior officer, which shocked the duo.

"Captain! There is explosion outside, and 19 of our cruisers were destroyed!" The ferret reported with panicked to his voice.

The superior on the other paw, which no other than Killian. Then, the power comes back on, illuminating every corner of the building.

"Do we have casualties?" Killian asked with concern.

"So far, sir. None."

Killian and some other police officers sighed in relief, hearing no one was hurt during the explosion.

The Lynx looked back at the briefing room with a gaze of grim as he saw the bodies laying everywhere with darks embedded through their skins. He looked back at the ferret before saying, "Warn the others. Find out who did this." Killian ordered.

The ferret promptly followed the order before leaving the room.

"Sir. The coms are down!" A tiger reported immediately as he desperately tried several times to search for any frequencies to reach out to the other officers at the city.

"Grrr! Someone is jamming us." Killian gritted his teeth in frustration

Wallace and Steven decided to step in.

"Sir."

Captain Killian faced them with a raise of brow, "What is it?"

Wallace answered, "Sir. This couldn't be just an attack. The perpetrators are likely organized."

"They are up to something we don't know." Stevens added.

Killian pondered for a moment before nodding at the suspicion of the duo, "Could be. That's why I will appoint you two for the search party with Lieutenant Harold." He pointed his thumb at the Grizzly bear beside him, whom gave them a simple nod.

The duo nodded in acknowledgement.

With that, Captain Killian began to bark orders to his men, which they promptly obliged.

"Sir!" A voice called out the superior officer.

Killian looks at the source of the voice to see a Hippo coming to his way before halting in front of him.

"What is it?" Killian asked the Hippo.

"You need to see this, sir." The hippo said urgently.

Killian nodded. Although his mind raced with thoughts of an unbearable foes nearby that could potentially attack them anytime. He didn't hesitate a second thought as he followed the Hippo to the CCTV room.

After minutes had passed. Killian and the Hippo finally reached the room before the operator of the cameras greeted them.

The greetings went off smoothly as Killian immediately went down to business.

"What is it you'd like to show us?" The Lynx immediately asked, portraying a hint of concern and urgency.

Without hesitation, the operator immediately opened a recorded footage before the blackout.

"This is just captured an hour ago." The operator said before clicking the play button of the footage.

Captain Killian leaned in as he watched the footage with interest, eager to see what the footage had to offer.

The footage switches a camera angle, which it took place at the corner angle where their transformer and generators are stored.

Minutes they wait. Killian caught a glimpse of 3 dark clothed, tailless figures with weapons at hand. The black clothed stack up the door before one of them entered the room before the screen blackout.

"Can you rewind back, 20 seconds." Captain Killian requested to the operator, which complied.

As the footage rewind back, just as requested. Killian leaned in before ordering, "Stop!"

The footage stops at the right time where the perpetrators could be seen perfectly.

Captain Killian inspected the features of the three unknown men before he noticed the familiar tri-colored flag at their shoulders, "White, Blue, and Red. Could I be missing something?" He asked himself, trying to recall some of his memories regarding this flag that he had seen somewhere.

After Killian remembered where this particular hailed from, his eyes widened in shock.

"They're Russians." He mumbled.

"Sir?" The Hippo asked in confusion, same goes to the operator manning the computer.

"They're Russians." The Captain said loud enough to hear by the other two.

"But, sir. The Russian Federation is a nuclear wasteland." The Hippo reasoned.

Killian stood up firmly before reaching for his radio, "That's what I thought." He replied with doubt at what he was seeing.

After that, Killian alerted every police officer in the vicinity of a possible foreign operatives from a country that has been persecuted as a lost nation.

"To every officer in this district. Be advised that we've got possible operatives from another country. For their descriptions, three military grade uniform and equipment, black colour, and they seemed to be wearing an aparatus. Use extreme caution."

To be continued...