Bureau 13 Aka Division 13, Department 13, or simply “13”
Formed by Executive order #60659 by a small corps of agents from the Mammal Intelligence Agency, this group operates with autonomy from normal and even covert intelligence oversight, Bureau 13’s mandate includes protecting Zootopia from ALL threats foreign AND domestic. Acknowledging that threats often time come from the very pillars of authority that is supposed to protect the citizens.
Bureau 13 is there as the last defense against these threats to Zootopia and its citizens, note citizens NOT government. Bureau 13 considers its first priority the citizens and their lives.
Bureau 13 agents are recruited on a volunteer basis often being sourced from Military, Intelligence, Law Enforcement for field agents, as well as its technical staff being sourced from the fields of Science, Technology, Medicine, Biology, Chemistry, Engineering and Design.
While the technical staff enjoy the relative safety of the hidden headquarters located somewhere in the city, the field agents’ job is a dangerous often perilous one. In fact the field agents recruited often have suffered numerous often debilitating injuries during their previous careers, and through the bureau’s access to advanced bio-mechanical prosthesis technology these mammals are restored to full function albeit with obvious technical augments.
The technical augments often grant abilities that would be classified as super-mammalian ranging from strength to speed, hypersensitivity to resistance to poisons and irritants and even above average healing factors.
Though the augmentation process grants better than normal function it is not without its price, agents often have to deal with the stigma of having clearly mechanical limbs, the perception of being broken or no longer mammalian, in addition some agents report having to deal with chronic pain specifically at the attach points between metal and bone and/or headache’s caused by the brain-machine interface chips that allow the direct connection of the mechanical augments to the nervous system.
This combined with the persistent danger of their missions, the secrecy, their histories and the stigma, this can often put strain on the agent’s mental well-being. What is often cited as the reasons for getting them through this rough times are the comradery of fellow agents, the knowledge of direct action leading to protection of Zootopia and the love for the city and its people.
Agents are well aware of the stakes and thus far have by and large been willing to carry such a heavy burden on their shoulders. They know that their jobs require them to operate in the shadows, that their actions and even their deaths known only to a chosen few.
They do this because they believe in the dream and promise of Zootopia, that anyone can be anything and are willing to give their precious life blood for that dream.
If there is one word that could sum up the spirit of these agents, that would be: Sacrifice.
For they are willing time and time again to handle the burden’s that others cannot carry, defend the powerless, rescue the helpless and stand a watchful charge over the noble and pure spirit of Zootopia and its people.
