Well, time to get started with the actual crossover part of this crossover! Characters do not belong to me. Never have, never will.

Gene could hear voices all around him. The team, telling him to hold on. Strangers voices talking about blood pressure, internal bleeding, and other medical jargon that sounded like complete gibberish to Gene's ears There was this niggling feeling that there should be pain-that the absence of it was a bad thing. There was something else too. Something important-some ONE important.

"Bolly," Gene said, or thought he did. He had heard the name, but he wasn't sure if his lips had moved or not. What the hell happened?

"We crashed," Gene's voice said again. But again the DCI wasn't sure if his lips had moved or not.

"Bolly?" Was she all right? Gene thought that he had heard her voice before, telling him to hold on. Was that just his imagination? Before the crash, she had tried to get him to slow down, he remembered that much. Oh, God... if she had been hurt, it would be his fault, same as the shooting had been.

Throughout all of this, Gene steadily became aware of a drumming sound that gradually increased in volume until it was almost deafening. It took Gene a few moments to realise that it was his heart-and then everything went silent.

The next sound that Gene heard was the sound of pouring rain on a car roof. Rain-not snow or hail as it had been a few moments before. He could also hear the swish-swish of the wipers, and a voice singing what sounded like a sea shanty. The voice sounded like a sailor straight out of a Hollywood movie.

"What the 'ell?" Gene wondered. What kind of ambulance was this? Since when do drivers sing while transporting patients?

It was then that Gene became aware of the fact that he was sitting upright, not lying down. Also, that aside from a bit of grogginess, he felt perfectly fine. Which made no sense at all for someone who had been in a crash. Gene opened his eyes, blinking several times until his vision came back into focus.

Looking around, Gene saw that he was in the backseat of a cab. Outside the windows was a solid wall of water. The rain was coming down too hard to see much of anything except some blurry trees.

"Ahoy, matey!" The cabbie yelled suddenly, causing Gene to jump back in alram.

"Don't do that!" he snapped. Gene leaned forward to get a better look at the driver and stopped. Something... something wasn't right about this bloke. In fact something was very wrong indeed. He was wearing what appeared to be some sort of animal costume. A turtle, Gene guessed. The head was two sizes too large- out of proportion with the rest of his body.

He was dark green, save for a mouth(or was that a beak? Maybe it was a parrot costume? Gene thought, confused) that was bright yellow. On top of this he wore a cabbie uniform. But what sort of cab driver wears an animal costume?

The mask was the most disturbing part: with eyes that blinked and moved about naturally in their sockets, and the mouth/beak thing that formed words perfectly whenever its owner spoke. The life like features were almost more unnerving than a rigid mask would be. It was as if the driver were an actual animal, and not a man in a costume at all. Gene shook his head, feeling like an idiot for thinking something so bizarre.

Oi, Tyler and Bolly be good people, but their weirdo thoughts 'ave started rubbin' off on me.

Speaking off, where was Alex? For that matter, where was Gene? The last thing he clearly remembered was chasing after bank robbers in a blizzard, and then...

"Bolly! Where is she?" Gene demaned.

"Eh, matey? Who be this Bolly?" The cabbie sounded geniuenly puzzled, and his eyes(could they be his real eyes, and not part of the mask? Seemed far too huge though...) showed honesty.

"The bird who was in the car with me," Gene clairifed. "She all right?"

"Ye must've been dreaming, lad. Ain't had no other passengers but you."

Gene sat back in shock. If Alex wasn't here, did that mean he had dreamt the crash? Or maybe this was the dream-why else would he be in the back of a cab driven by a man in a turtle/parrot costume?

But everything felt so real here. He could feel the leather of the seats, and the chill of the cab's air conditionor. He rolled down his window and felt cold raindrops splash on his face.

The accident with Alex had also felt real though. So which was the dream? They couldn't both be real, there would be a huge window of missing time otherwise. As far as Gene could tell, no real time had passed at all.

"I don't believe I ever got yer name, ye sea squid," annouced the cabbie, startling Gene.

"Name's Hunt, Gene Hunt," Gene answered, too puzzled to do anything else.

"Aye, that's burly! A strong name for a strong man."

Okay... Gene thought. His driver was already queer, was he a fairy too? He wanted to demand to be let out, but outside there was only wilderness. He considered demanding to be returned to London.

"My name be Kapp'n," the cabbie introduced himself.

A take on the word 'captain'. Figures, Gene thought.

"Oi! Where are we going?" Gene asked. "Turn this cab around, I need to get back to London."

"We be sailing fer Animal Villiage, Gene. Your new home."

"New home?" Gene shouted. "Turn this bloody cab around right now or else..."

"Listen you urchin! It's only natural to get cold feet when moving into a new place, but once you get settled in, you should be fine."

Gene wondered if he could take the driver out. Maybe then he could turn the cab around and drive himself home. But nothing looked familiar outside. Gun point could work. He reached for his gun, and to his horror discovered that he no longer had it.

It was also at that point that Gene finally became aware that he was wearing a completely different set of clothes. He now wore a bright yellow t-shirt with a giant black paw print on it, tan shorts, and blue tennis shoes.

What on the hell was going on? Had he been drugged, put in these new clothes and smuggled off in this cab? How or when did this happen? Unless his first theory was correct and he was just dreaming all of this. Just which was it? Both Alex and Sam had made mention of something called Occman's Razor: the simplest solution is often the correct one. But Gene couldn't decide which of his theories was the simplest. Even the dream theory had its share of complications. This just felt so goddamn real.

Then again, maybe the crash really did happen, and he was in a hospital bed, high as a kite on whatever drugs it was the doctors have given him. When he woke up, he'd have to ask what they were so he could demand something different. All of this was just too weird for him.

"This is kidnapping!" Gene told Kapp'n angrily. Even if it was a dream, his request to be taken back had been denied. Kapp'n was holding him against his will. Gene was determined to have some control over this nonsense until he could wake up. Which might be awhile if he were really in the hospital. He knew the doctors would sometimes have to keep you under for several days, if you were hurt bad enough. He was also not looking forward to the pain he knew he'd be in once he did wake up.

"Sorry to frighten you, matey," Kapp'n said apologetically. "It's just that we're almost there already, and since you already sold your old place... Don't you remember? You weren't asleep for that long."

Maybe Gene could play along, just for a little while. Might make things speed up faster than fighting them would. And he was starting to get a little curious as to what exactly this new "home" looked like.

"Yeah, I remember," Gene lied. "Almost there you said? About how much longer will it be?"

"No more than ten, fifteen minutes tops," Kapp'n told him.

Gene settled back in his seat. The steady rain on the roof was oddly soothing. Maybe it would lull him to sleep so that he could wake up for real this time. It may have sounded nonsensical, but no more so than anything else that had happened. He closed his eyes, trying to will himself back to reality; whether that be his own bed at home or a hospital bed hooked up to an I.V. drip.

With the second option, there was the chance that Alex would be at his bedside. Then again, with the first, it would mean that he had not come drangerously close to almost killing her a second time. If the crash was real, Alex had survived it, right? She must have, he had heard her voice before, telling him to hold on. Unless he just imagined it, same as he was imagining this cab ride.

No, no way in hell. He had heard her voice, Gene told himself insistantly, unable to think so otherwise.

"Aye, we've made landfall, m'laddie," Kapp'n's voice snapped Gene from his thoughts. "An' it looks like the rain has finally let up, too."

Indeed, there was not so much as a cloud in the sky. What on earth?

Gene saw that the cab had pulled up in front of a large, one story building.

"This here be the town hall; if you have any questions, this is where you ask."

'If' he had any questions? Questions were all that he had. He stepped out of the cab to look around. There was a cobblestone plaza in front of the bulding. Just to the left was a wooden buliten board covered with paper notices. They appeared to be dry.

Behind him, Kapp'n suddenly gunned the engine. Before Gene could even turn around, the cab zoomed off into the distance.

"Oi! You bastard! You can't just leave me here! Didn't even stay long enough to pick up his tab... not that I'd have given him one."

Gene decided to go inside the town hall. Maybe there he could finally get some answers as to what was going on.

Inside, Gene saw two bank teller windows. Everything in the place appeared to be wooden, save for the dumpster to his right. Gene went to take a closer look. "Recycling bin, eh?" Gene opened it. To his disapointment, it was empty.

"Can I help you?" a female voice asked from behind him.

Gene turned to find himself face-to-face with a giant pelican. Just another costume, like that Kapp'n bloke. Gene told himself. Now that he was up close to such a mask, he found himself even more unnerved by how life like it appeared. There was also the fact that the voices had not been the slightest bit muffled, as they should be when wearing such masks.

Just what was with these people? First a parrot/turtle thing, and now a pelican? What was it Kapp'n called this place? Animal Village? Did that mean everyone here was dressed like an animal?

Should've brought my Tufty costume, Gene thought wryly. I'd have blended right in. Once again it seemed like he was a magnet for weirdos. Only this time, instead of the weirdos coming to him, he had gone to them.

"My name is Pelly, welcome to the town hall," the pelican said. Gene noticed that she was wearing a pink dress with a white ribbon tied around her neck in a bow.

"Name's Hunt. Came here by cab-"

"Oh! You're the one who just moved in! Tom Nook told us about you!" Pelly interrupted Gene.

"Who's this Tom Nook?" Gene asked, somewhat unerved that someone he had never heard of apparently knew about him.

"He's the one who built your house!" Pelly answered cheerfully. "You're sharing it with Sam."

"Nobody said nothing about a roommate!" Gene said. He didn't want to have to live with one of these weirdos!

"Don't worry, Sam's very nice. He's just a little quiet. Having a roomate is fun, you'll see."

Before Gene could say another word, Pelly put a map in his hands.

"Here, you can use this to find your house!" she said, going behind one of the bank teller windows.

Realising that he probably wasn't going to get anywhere with Pelly, Gene went back outside. He looked over the map. The homes and businesses were clearly marked. There were only two stores, Nookington's and Able Sisters.

"Nookington's? As in Tom Nook?" Gene wondered aloud. Maybe he should go there for answers, considering the bloke already knew who he was. Maybe he'd know how Gene could get out of here.

Nook was probably as crazy as Kapp'n and Pelly. Gene would have to be careful. He just hoped th bastard didn't know how to fight.

Better keep in mind you're outnumbered in this place, Gene told himself. A part of him still cried out that this was just a drug-induced dream, but it was already growing more difficult to believe it.

After one last glance at the map to see where "his" house was, Gene headed off to Nookington's, hoping he could finally get answers to the questions that he had.