Assailants Unknown

**"Assailants Unknown"** is the seventh episode of *Revolution* and the 82nd episode overall.

The episode was released on March 13, 2022.

In the episode, the Vixen Queen locates a group of Toons, but the discovery is dire.

## The Episode

—The Death Fields—

—*Formerly Capricon*—

—April 12, 1051—

The Death Fields were lawless territories, bereft of civilization and infested with bandits and lowlifes seeking a better life than they could find in the crushing jaws of the Vulpus Empire. Usa Uhuru had once lived a few years in the Fields. The cutthroat nature of life there forced her back to Vulpus. The positives of traveling through the Fields was that they were not patrolled and thus one could pass through undetected. One just had to be careful of the edges, which were often guarded.

Last night, Usa’s posse had encountered another Free with some medical training to tend to Mickey Elias. She wasn’t able to do much, and instructed them how to find a medic further into the Fields. Mickey now lay immobile in the back of the truck with Sairene and Alice. Finding him medical attention was the priority.

Their party was numbered at seven: the four Toons—Mickey Elias, Piggy Pie, Alice Carver, and Eileen Irenic—plus the three Cartonians—Usa, Benjamina, and Sairene Rendle. They were riding in two trucks. Mickey, Sairene, and Alice in one. Usa, Benjamina, Piggy, and Eileen in the other.

Piggy and Eileen were back in the bed of the truck, watching the landscape. As unhappy as they were here, they were still fascinated by Cartonia. Usa herself longed to see Toontown, the place that seemed like a castle on a hill.

“They’re not what you expected, are they?” Benjamina asked from the driver’s seat. “They’re certainly not what I expected.”

“What were you expecting?” Usa asked. The bear shrugged.

“Heroes, I guess. Gallant, larger-than-life titans. That’s what my mother had described them as, anyway. That was her interpretation of Hamish’s story. I believed her. I think we all did.”

“Careful,” Usa said, interrupting for a moment. She pointed at a hill to the left. “There could be bandits.” Benjamina pumped the brakes three times to signal to Sairene driving behind them to be watchful. They ultimately passed without issue and were clear.

“I believed my mother too,” Usa admitted. “I thought they would come up here and solve all of our problems. I think once the moment came and I had eight of them in my truck, I saw them as people and got a little realistic. But let’s be honest; they’re burdens. They can’t fend for themselves up here; they don’t know the area! They don’t understand us and we don’t really understand them. This month should have been spent building the revolution but instead I’ve been chasing them across the continent and I’ve lost the Harmony Crown because of it.”

Benjamina tapped the steering wheel.

“What is the Harmony Crown, anyway? You’ve told me bits and pieces but nothing concrete. What is it? Why do you care about it so much?”

Usa squirmed.

“I’m sorry, Benny. I promised I wouldn’t say.”

“Who did you promise?”

“I can’t say.”

“It’s a weapon, then?”

Usa glanced at her.

“Yes.”

Benjamina didn’t pry further, and Usa exhaled in relief. She was the only one who knew truly what the Harmony Crown was. It was her best-kept secret. She was well aware that someone else had to know, to preserve the integrity of the secret. If she were to die, nobody would know. Maybe that person was Benjamina.

“They may be burdens,” Benjamina commented, having moved on, “but they are remarkable burdens.”

Usa turned to look behind her through the open window at Eileen and Piggy in the bed.

“They’re remarkable because of where they came from,” Usa said. “They themselves are not idols.”

Cale Metfin brought them here for selfish reasons, though in a way her actions saved them from certain death. Had the Free been unaware of their arrival, they would have died in that cellar in Yefoxerinburg. Usa herself had stepped in to rescue them because she believed the story of Hamish McRory and wanted to meet these fabled heirs. The ones that would deliver Cartonia out of suffering. So far, Cartonia had only caused suffering for them. Fourteen Toons came to Cartonia. How many would return, if any?

In the end, Usa always knew it would come down to the people of Cartonia to free themselves from the clutches of the Vixen Queen. Hamish’s story was fantastical and infused with hope, but it was just a story. Generations of Cartonians had lived and died believing in the story, and none saw liberation. Usa was fortunate enough to meet the heirs to Cartonia’s broken thrones, but that blessing was imprecated with the curse of seeing their lives undone. She was partially responsible for the misery of her heroes. Maybe in the end, Usa was to be her own hero.

“In your heart of hearts,” Benjamina posited, “do you think the revolution will succeed?”

“No idea,” Usa said bluntly. “I guess we’ll find out.”

—Western Vulpus—

—*Formerly Mallardia*—

“Will there be blood?” Jewellia asked, shaking. It was adorable how helpless and squeamish she was. Her quivering had not stopped since the aerowings landed in Vexastadt. They were now driving out into the Mallardian region’s wine country. The Beckers had been located at a vineyard.

“Just look away when we get there,” Vella said, patting Jewellia’s leg for reassurance. Jewellia started gnawing on her claws.

“Maybe I’ll wait in the car…”

“Oh, be brave.”

A series of nine cars parked in unison outside a large wooden barn. The vineyard was placid. The grapes had not been harvested recently, but barrels lay half-full nearby. Vella loaded her gun and followed Skulksmarshalls Tick Hunter and Rook James toward the barn. Jewellia reluctantly followed, unarmed.

An army of soldiers quickly surrounded both the barn and the farmhouse. The lights were dark everywhere. A neighbor had noticed the lack of activity from the farm and investigated. When she found the Beckers, she called the hotline.

“Farmhouse is clear!” Rook shouted. Everyone congregated around the barn.

The vineyard was not on the list of suspected hiding places for the Toons, which irked Vella. The Free had scattered them across the continent, and with the exception of Hyla Sensitive and now the Beckers, none had been found. Piggy Pie and Alice Carver were in her grasp when they were incarcerated on Eusuchia, but somehow they escaped. It was her top priority to find them all.

“Maybe we should move the Cervidian prisoners,” Vella remarked to Jewellia as she cocked her weapon. Tick was counting down the assault on the barn.

“Really?” Jewellia said. “Why?”

“I think the Free will soon know their location. The snow on the castle…”

“Oh,” Jewellia said, having seen the picture in the car. She shrugged, too preoccupied with the oncoming attack. “I’d think you’d want to use that as a trap.”

“NOW!”

The barn doors were kicked down and the soldiers flooded inside. They searched from top to bottom, but the only people here were the five corpses the neighbor had found this morning.

Jackquez and Frances Ilba, the owners of the vineyard. Members of the Free.

Katherine Becker, her husband Henry Yorcaster, and her daughter Mary Yorcaster.

All five had been slaughtered. The barn was ransacked, the farmhouse burglarized. Bandits had come through days ago. The bodies had been lying here maybe a week. Vella sighed at the bodies. Three Toons were dead, which was helpful in a way, but the point was to kill them publicly. She’d have to announce their deaths to clear them from hotline reports. Could she spin this to say she killed them? Probably. It wasn’t the same as a live execution. Hyla’s burning had the desired effect of building morale among Vulpine citizens while demoralizing the Free.

The bodies were separated, the Cartonians lying jumbled in a pile of hay, the Toons holding each other closer to the door. A broken lantern lay at young Mary Yorcaster’s feet. She was in the arms of her mother, Katherine. All five had been shot multiple times, but the fatal bullets were the ones embedded in their skulls. Frances Ilba had rope around one of her ankles.

Jewellia came up beside Vella, breathing heavily. She kept staring at Henry Yorcaster. His neck was twisted, probably a result of how he fell. His flipper was locked around his daughter’s.

“Nobody else here,” Rook reported. “Assailants unknown.”

“Maybe the Ilbas shot them and killed each other?” Tick suggested.

“Don’t be absurd,” Vella snapped. “This was a slaughter. Someone is either on our side or trying to send a message.”

“A message?” Jewellia chirped. “What kind of message?”

Vella stooped over Katherine Becker, the once-expected Queen of Mallardia. Her eyes were still open. Flies were buzzing around her head, the decomposition process soon to begin. She dug her claws into the bullet wound in her head and extracted the bullet.

“Sterling silver,” she marveled. “Rich bandits.”

“Why would they leave a sterling silver bullet?” Tick wondered aloud. “That can be reissued, or sold for scrap.”

Vella asked for a handkerchief, which a soldier provided. She wiped off the blood. Her fingers grazed markings.

“I need water.”

Once the bullet was clean, the markings were clear. A skull nestled in the silhouette of an acorn. Her eyes flared with fury. She held out the bullet to Tick and Rook, who immediately recognized the symbol. They weren’t anywhere near the water, and yet that didn’t stop them.

The Beckers had been killed by Scuridian pirates.

—Toontown—

Pete Ingalls was reading the pages, but not comprehending or retaining any of the information. His mind was running on a different track, trying to make sense of the situation he was finding himself in. His office walls were closing in, suffocating him. He didn’t want to be here today.

When he woke up this morning, inundated with dread, he was reminded of the most stressful lesson he had taught thus far in his career. It had been a standard day, up until he realized what was going to happen. It was the introductory day of the history of the War. To start, they always went over interspecies relationships and the story of Bentley Connelly and Victoria Vixen, to understand why the War began. On that day, however, he had neglected to realize that Clarabelle Cow, the destined final cow of Toontown, was in attendance. Pete had to break the news to her in front of all of her classmates that she would never bear children as there would be no mate for her when she grew up. That lesson had dire consequences as Clarabelle’s turn to wickedness was set in fate.

It was awkward, and stressful, at the time. But nothing like today. On this morning, the schoolhouse was reopening for classes. The school had shuddered in early March when the Lawbots’ final attack on the streets drained the world of color and light. The school remained closed during the fox invasion and subsequent takeover.

Now, Commandant Hans Einfach ordered the school reopened. He slashed the Toon curriculum and replaced it with Vulpine-approved material. A number of Pete’s teachers had been killed in the pogrom against the Toons, and thus Pete was forced to substitute in as the history teacher on, once again, the origins of the War.

It was almost time. Pete gathered his materials and headed into the largest classroom. All the upper grades were gathered there already. Armed Vulpine soldiers lined the sides of the classroom. Pete’s eye instinctively went toward where Clarabelle Cow sat all those years ago. A mouse was sitting in that seat now.

“Good morning,” Pete said to the tense classroom. “Welcome back to school.”

The students stared at him, probably frightened for their lives. What if someone said something out of turn? What if Pete messed up? Would he be shot on the spot?

The door opened and Hans Einfach entered. He shooed a student out of the seat nearest the door and sat, smiling at Pete. The Commandant was impossible to ignore.

“Today,” Pete said with a voice crack, “we will be exploring the origins of the War. The Great War of Vulpine Conquest.”

The words felt foreign on his lips. He had to keep referencing his notes as he spilled lies to the students. The sacrilege of Victoria Vixen and how she was bewitched by the evil Bentley Connelly. How both became BioFreaks through a graphic description of interspecies sexual intercourse.

Over the course of the day, lesson after lesson, Pete shared the history of the Empire of Vulpus as it was presented to him. He espoused the hailed Southern Sunset zeitgeist that made every fox in Vulpus believe that it was their born destiny to expand their borders all the way to the bottom of the continent. This was the sentiment that ensnared Toontown in the game of conquest.

Throughout the Day, Commandant Hans Einfach remained in the same seat, with the same smile plastered on his face, the same armed guards monitoring the words spilling from Pete’s mouth. He was trapped here too. If he quit or stopped the lesson, he may be killed. He had to think about his son, Ash.

All of this would have to be undone one day. The foxes were trying to brainwash the children of Toontown, and if the Toons were successful in reclaiming their town, they’d have to reverse the curriculum.

What if it was never undone? What if the foxes remained in Toontown forever? Could it really be that the Founders of Toontown did all of this for nothing?

—Central Vulpus—

—*Formerly Felexa*—

—April 13, 1051—

—The Next Day—

The trucks stopped to refuel at a station disguised as an abandoned shack. Three cats were living there, including one sophisticated medic named Flo.

Eileen was getting restless, and paranoid. They hadn’t seen any foxes in their journey across the Death Fields and Vulpus. It was obvious that Vella would be looking for them. Alice and Piggy Pie escaped prison, and Eileen and Mickey had escaped a walled city that was shredding everything apart trying to find them. They were desperate for news, which thankfully Flo could provide.

“The searches of Vannastadt for the Toons continue,” she reported as she tended to Mickey. “Bite this, Mickey. Don’t swallow until it’s dissolved.”

“What’s wrong with him?” Alice asked.

“Congestion,” Flo said simply. “I can treat it. Sairene, get me some more water, please.”

Sairene Rendle was leaving the convoy, wishing to return to Vannastadt and prepare for the revolution. The truck would stay, and she’d wait until another transport could take her westward. The Free were content with living nomadically when the situation called for it, Eileen noticed.

“Where exactly are we going?” Piggy Pie asked Usa and Benjamina, who were conversing with the other two cats living at the station.

“Tabitha,” Usa said. “The old capital of Felexa.”

Piggy looked at Eileen.

“Isn’t that dangerous? Another big city…”

“We’ll be fine,” Benjamina assured. “Eat something.”

The cats had prepared a meal for everyone, the first hot food Eileen had eaten in days. She eagerly devoured what was in front of her.

Once Flo was finished treating Mickey, she helped him to the table. There weren’t enough chairs for all eleven of them, but they made do. The two other cats went to stand watch so Flo could give any updates she had.

“I think the Vixen Queen believes that Piggy, Alice, and Usa are either still on Eusuchia or hiding in Ursus. That doesn’t mean you’re any safer down here. You have to stay hidden. Vannazollern Castle is still on lockdown, last I heard. Let’s see…nobody has gotten close to Antlerstag yet, but there’s a chance those three Toons are still on top of the tower.”

“*What!*” Alice cried. “It’s freezing! They’ll freeze!”

Flo sighed.

“Without a clear update, that’s how we have to operate. Oh, and the Beckers are dead.”

Eileen spat out her soup. Piggy and Alice gaped. Mickey’s eyes were wide as saucers.

“What did you just say?” Usa stuttered, just as shocked as the others. Flo placed her paws face-down on the table.

“The Beckers have all been killed in Mallardia. By Scuridian pirates.”

“You’re joking,” Benjamina snorted. “That’s preposterous. The vineyard is nowhere near the Bay.”

Flo adjusted her glasses and frowned.

“I am not joking. That is what my source said. The Beckers were slaughtered at the vineyard. Cale Metfin is nowhere to be found. The vineyard owners are dead too. They removed a pirate’s bullet from each of the five skulls.”

“Wait,” Eileen seethed, “did you say that Cale disappeared?”

“Yes.”

*Of course*. The bitch couldn’t be trusted after all. She was to blame for the Beckers’ death. She betrayed them in the end. Again.

“You told us you’d keep us safe,” Eileen hissed at Usa. “You lied. Over and over! You said you’d protect us, and you’ve lost half of us.”

Usa swallowed hard. She avoided Eileen’s gaze.

Six Toons were dead. Mata was MIA and probably dead too. Doctor, Bradley, and Slate were frozen solid atop Antlerstag. Eileen’s harrowing sojourn in Vannastadt made her believe she was one of the unlucky ones. She often pictured the bucolic life the Beckers must be having at the vineyard. They were murdered there, far from home. Eileen was fortunate to be alive, but she had to get out of here before she joined the list of the dead.

“Maybe we should go back,” Piggy muttered. “The Free can still try to save them, but at least we’ll be gone. We’re no use to Doctor, Slate, and Bradley if we’re dead.”

“Go back?” Eileen snapped. “There’s nothing left for us in Toontown. There’s nowhere for us.”

She bowed her head and wept. She wept for Toontown and the home she lost, and for the Beckers. She had promised Katherine Becker that they would see each other again. How foolish to make a promise in a land without honor.

“She’s right,” Usa said at last. “We cannot be sure of what life awaits them in Toontown. They’re safer with us.”

“Bullshit,” Alice muttered. “We’re not safe anywhere.”

“Why is there nowhere peaceful left?” Piggy wondered to nobody. “Why is it that warfare is everywhere?”

Eileen composed herself.

“The only way to guarantee any semblance of peace is to kill Vella and bring down the Vulpus Empire.”

Usa grinned at her.

“Indeed.”

“I have an idea.”

She had been thinking about it for a while, but now that she was properly furious she was willing to risk whatever became of it. “Rook James will likely not know about what you three saw on Eusuchia.”

“What do you mean?” Alice said. “The camps?”

“The extermination of the crocodiles,” Eileen said.

“He does,” Usa sighed. “They all do.”

Eileen shook her head.

“There’s no way. He wouldn’t continue to blindly serve her if he knew that all of his species was being exterminated.”

Benjamina raised an eyebrow.

“Specesial loyalty no longer exists. Nobody cares about their race like they did before the War. It’s either you support the Vixen Queen or you don’t. That’s it. Rook is a damn Skulksmarshall. He knows.”

“I knew Rook in Toontown,” Eileen continued, adamant. “One of the first things that he remarked upon was that there were no crocodiles in Toontown. He was surprised by that. Genuinely surprised. He cares about his species, just as we all do.”

Benjamina and Usa were not convinced. Flo eyed them.

“What exactly do you mean…extermination of the crocodiles?” Flo asked. Eileen let Usa break that news to them. Both were stunned.

“Tell everyone about it as they come through here,” Benjamina said. “It’ll help the revolution.”

“I’ll tell the others,” Flo said and hurried outside.

“Can we get back to my idea?” Eileen said in a hurry. “I am of the belief that Rook does *not* know about the death camps. *If* he doesn’t—let me finish, Usa—then that would come as a huge shock to him. It may even turn him to our side. That would give us a very big advantage.”

Usa crossed her arms and sighed.

“Okay, let’s assume so. How would we tell him?”

“We don’t tell him,” Eileen said. “We show him. You said you have an ally at one of the camps.”

“Heinrich Meyer,” Alice said. “I remember his name.”

“Great,” Eileen smiled. “Heinrich sends a formal invitation on Vulpus stationery, signed by the Vixen Queen—a forgery, calm down—that invites Rook to come to the camp and see what it’s all about.”

Benjamina shook her head.

“Absolutely not. That would put Heinrich in enormous danger. For one, Rook *does* know about the camps. And when he shows up for no reason, he’ll tell the Vixen Queen that he was set up. They search for the mole, they might find Heinrich, and he’s killed. So much for that resource. I can’t allow this. It’s a dumb idea, so drop it.”

Usa seemed to be weighing it.

“I think it’s worth the risk,” she said finally. “Eileen brings up a few good points that makes me doubt that Rook has known all along. There is a chance, albeit a slight one, that he’s horrified. He isn’t likely to turn on the Vixen Queen, but he could become weary of her.”

“Vella needs those two,” Eileen stated. “She relied on them heavily during her time in Toontown. She is dependent upon them. Tick and Rook are her base, and if we shake it even a bit, she could fall.”

Alice raised a finger.

“And that weasel she had trotting after her, with the ugly name.”

“Ugh,” Piggy gagged. “Jewellia. I remember her.”

Usa glanced at Benjamina. Their gaze lingered, communicating without speaking.

“So we organize to have Heinrich send an invitation to Rook from the Vixen Queen,” Usa postulated. “We hope that he goes without question, without discussing it with the Queen first.”

“The wording will be key,” Eileen said. “I can help with that.”

“And you think we should also devise a plan to strike at Tick and Jewellia in the same way?” Benjamina clarified. Eileen nodded.

“Well, well,” Use mused. “The leader of the Toon Resistance is fast becoming a leader of the Free.”

Eileen narrowed her eyes.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. Does anyone have any paper? I can draft a letter.”

—Antlerstag—

—Lyme, Cervidium—

Doctor was nearing the end of his life. There was nothing in his stomach and nothing in his soul. His whole body was numb from the cold. For hours when the snow first began, Bradley and Doctor pled with Slate to relent, but he either couldn’t hear them or was unaware it was them asking. Doctor estimated he had been up here for three days, edging closer to the final hour of his existence.

Bradley had gone silent a while ago. Was he dead? Sometimes Doctor thought he himself was dead. When he couldn’t feel anything anymore and the light would blind him, voices were beckoning him home. Then, he’d jolt back to the tower and realize his predicament was very real and he remained shackled to life.

“Grab him,” Doctor heard. Was someone else up here with him? He tried to look around, but his fur was frozen to the roof. Someone was soon upon him, and hacked away at the ice keeping him in place. Then, he was lifted and carried out of the storm and into the warmth. It didn’t matter where he was going. Death would be the calmest of releases. Nothing was better than that at this point.

“Pneumonia and hypothermia,” Doctor heard from a familiar voice. He seized. It was Dr. Czufran Monet. She was as evil as the Doe.

Doctor was eventually laid down on a hard surface. Not a bed, nor an operating table. The floor. Marble floors. Doctor rolled over onto his back. The warmth felt good but he was still starving. His jaw was sealed shut by frostbite. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Slate and Bradley. Miraculously, both were breathing.

Someone was yelling, which sounded muffled. As Doctor lay on the floor, gazing upward at the cavernous ceiling of the Cervidian throne room, he realized it was Doe Halley.

“I am the Doe!” she screamed. “I make the orders!”

“Thankless child,” the Doe Mother hissed. “They are on the brink of death! You are violating the Vixen Queen’s commands.”

“The doctor said they will survive!”

“Barely,” came the mutter of Dr. Monet. “Their hypothermia is quite advanced. Slate is fine, just malnourished.”

Lucky Slate, Doctor thought. Even in the coldest of temperatures, he remained temperate. The upside of his affliction, in this case, anyway.

“Why did you take them off the tower?” Halley shrieked. “Why did you disobey me, Mother?”

The Doe Mother growled in reply,

“The visitor has requested it.”

“Visitor?” Halley scowled. “He isn’t the Doe of Cervidium! *I am!*”

Doctor wished they’d stop squabbling. He needed medical attention. He needed a doctor. Not Dr. Monet. A real, kind doctor. Like Dr. Artery or Dr. Foolery in Toontown. He was shivering nonstop, as if having a seizure on the ground.

Snow began to fall overhead. Slate’s flurry, coming inside. It was tinted grey, like ash. His power was weakening.

“Stop that!” Halley yelled. “Dr. Monet! Stop him!”

“No!” a deep tenor voice boomed. “Leave him.”

Doctor heard footsteps on the marble. A colorful figure blurred past him.

“Kitt,” Doe Halley mumbled. “Welcome to Antlerstag.”

The figure did not reply, and instead walked over to the Toons. He bent over Doctor. The face belonged to a vibrantly hued parrot. His shoulders were wrapped in a magnificent purple cape. Atop his feathered head was a tall crown made of silver and gold.

*The Macaw of Psittancyna*.

## Production

### Continuity and Story Arcs

The Beckers, last seen in “Billow and Breeze,” were slaughtered by Scuridian pirates.

Pete Ingalls recalled the school lesson in the season 2 episode “The Last Cow” in which Clarabelle Cow learned of her fate.

Eileen Irenic recalls when Rook James remarked upon there being no crocodiles in Toontown in the season 3 premiere “They Came From the North.”

This episode introduced Macaw Kitt of Psittancyna.

## Trivia

* The title of this episode was quoted by Rook James when the foxes discovered the bodies of the Becker family.
* The Southern Sunset zeitgeist is based on Manifest Destiny.
* Flo is named after famous nurse Florence Nightingale.
* Macaw Kitt is named after St. Kitts & Nevis.
* This marks the first appearance of a parrot since “The Good Must Associate.”
* There was originally a goat medic named Welma who assisted Flo, but she was cut at the last minute.
* At 4,291 words, this is the shortest episode of *Revolution*