Welcome everyone to yet another dark story of mine that I actually got inspiration from by current world events. I figured the racial/stereotype/political/ideological conflict happening in the world today would be a perfect backdrop for a similar story to be told in Zootopia; a world perfectly ripe for these kinds of stories. If anyone has read my first fanfic, Zelda's Honor and my continuing story of Fate Deceived, you'll know to expect the same quality and dark style of writing here. Zootopia was never originally intended to be another fanfic project for me, with Fate Deceived being my primary focus, but watching the movie sparked so many ideas and concepts that I had to take the strongest one and run with it. May you enjoy the ride with me.
Judy stopped in front of the locker mounted mirror, analyzing herself before the honest visage staring back. She rubbed her paw down along the three slender lines that were slightly visible if one looked for them beneath the fur that had sprung up around the wounds. A permanent testament to the idiocy of hate that had once claimed Gideon Grey, a fox back from the Burrows where she was born. She shook her head at the memory of it, what a long way they had come from childhood.
Resituating the spandex pants along her waist, she plunked the blue, bulky head guard around her ears, ensuring they slipped through the appropriate holes so as to not get squished under the weight of the thing. She strapped on the form fitting gloves, fastening the final strap around her wrist with her teeth before slapping them together in preparation for the training ahead. She took one last glance in the mirror; she truly did look like a formidable boxing opponent, regardless of her size.
She bounded out of the locker room amid tumultuous roars and animalistic cries. A variety of friends, fellow off-duty police officers, local citizens and a small entourage of Mr. Big's henchmen were in attendance. Her challenger was already in the ring and boosting up the crowd to fever pitch with his boasting. She barely had time to stop and wonder how this all happened, it seemed to have escalated so quickly.
The underground crime lord, Mr. Big, was a shrew of great importance in Tundra Town. Although he did some questionable dealings and operations, he never stopped giving his earnings and benefits of his profession back to the citizens of Zootopia, a city built with the premise of integration and cooperation of all mammals to live together as one in harmony. As much as Chief Bogo, her boss at the Zootopia Police Department (ZPD), wanted to put the little shrew behind bars, there was simply not enough direct evidence to link him to any of the white collar crimes throughout the city; not to mention instigating the ire of the local populace who loved Mr. Big for the good he had done within the community. He was untouchable.
Judy had just popped in for a visit to check on her good friend Fru Fru, Mr. Big's daughter, to see how her third litter of shrewlets was coming along. It seemed that poor woman didn't get a break from shooting out babies. Her first litter had already grown into adults and was inducted into the family business quite quickly and those who weren't interested were given glowing recommendations and free passes into whatever job tickled their fancy within Zootopia. It was a glorious time for the family.
At the time of her visit, one of his polar bear guards was watching a rather riveting internet video of one of his buddies beating the crap out of a brown bear cousin. He was sniggering and spouting knowledgeable tips on how he could do better than his friend when Judy poked her head up over his raised phone and began watching the clip.
"Well, I can see why." She commented, trying to remain blasé about the whole thing. "His stance is completely wrong and he's opening up his right flank for a side swipe. It's a good thing that brown bear can't fight well or your friend would be nurturing a really bad scratch!"
Her nonchalant words set off a firestorm of machismo and bluster from the indignant polar bear, "Just because you a cop and friends with the boss doesn't mean you are all that in a scrap!"
His fellow comrade chuckled before nudging him roughly in the ribs, "You tell him Ramon!"
Knowing full well she shouldn't get into it with him, she puffed out her chest anyway and fired back, "I did graduate top of my class. Aced all my tests and won every fight. I'm pretty sure a simple sparring match with you wouldn't make me break a sweat!"
Ramon slapped the phone into his buddie's chest as he reared downward to come face to face with the indomitable hare. Judy scrunched her nose, trying in vain to hold back the bile from smelling the rank, fishy odor wafting out of the bear's maw. "It is on little bunny! Just say when!" He bellowed.
Against her better judgment and from the adrenaline pumping through her veins, she gladly accepted and would have initiated the match right then and there had Mr. Big not entered the room, hand carried by his personal polar bear attendant, Tyron. His soft, gravelly voice could be heard quite clearly in the din permeating the room. All voices went silent as Mr. Big went to speak from his diminutive chair engulfed within the palm of white fur.
"You two will not be disrespecting grandma-ma here in the home she lived in!" Ramon stepped back resolutely, crossing himself as he took position up against the wall, willing himself to disappear within its garish aqua stripped wallpaper. Satisfied that all was calm, Mr. Big continued at a decibel that to outsiders seemed to be about the same volume. "However, this does present an opportunity most timely my coney friend. How about we do a little wager, say…some innocent gambling on sports?"
So here Judy was in the local boxing gym just a few blocks down the road from her high-rise apartment overlooking her suburb, getting ready to face off against the towering polar bear Ramon. To legitimize the whole affair and to prevent Judy from getting in trouble with the law and her boss, it was declared as a friendly boxing match with standardized rules for combatants. Mr. Big even brought in his bookie, a rather brusque porcupine by the name of Quill, to legalize the gambling proceedings from the event; even to the point it was advertised that a portion of the winning pot would go to charities. Judy couldn't really find much to object there.
"You know Carrots," Nick Wilde whispered, sidling up to her, swiftly walking beside her as she tromped through the crowd to the ring in the middle of the gym floor, "you really don't have to do this to impress me of your fighting prowess. I know full well you got the skills to take criminals down."
She gave him a sidelong glance before smirking, "Relax Nick, nobody is going to get seriously hurt. We did this sort of police training in the academy before didn't we? Ramon isn't going to be any different. Just think of it as additional training."
Nick Wilde was one of her best friends on the force and one of the newest recruits to the ZPD, the very fox she pinned an officer badge on. He wasn't always a cop like her or even had dreams of being in law enforcement; rather he was a con artist who played up to his sly fox stereotype with flying colors. She had found him during her first investigation on the force dealing with several cases of missing animals that were later to have been found going savage due to a rather elaborate plot to pit prey against predator. The unlikely duo worked together, unwillingly at first, to solve the case and bring a peace back to Zootopia and since then have become partners, sharing the same patrols.
Judy couldn't help but notice Nick's fur was a nice sheen of ginger today, she almost wanted to ask if he had taken her advice and used that fur treatment she had designed from carrots grown on her family's farm but that would have to wait until after the match. He was wearing a maroon shirt with a striped fuchsia tie that would look hideous on almost anyone else except Nick who managed to pull off the look with pizazz. Sometimes when she wasn't thinking about it, she'd catch herself just staring at him without really knowing why.
"That's not the point Carrots!" Nick dropped the grin and grew serious. "We're set for a train over to your parent's farm tonight and I'd rather not bring a battered and bruised Judy back to them as my first impression. It'd really look bad on me."
She turned to him, that smirk still present on her face and placed a paw on his shoulder, "Nick, I don't reckon they'll think that badly of you. After all, I've talked about you quite a lot to them over these past few months. Don't worry. They have a real good impression of you already." Without another word, she bounced off, slipping through the bars of the ring in a single bound.
"Carrots!" Nick called out after her before being pushed back by the crowd of battle-hungry onlookers. "What did you tell them?!" His voice masked in the cacophony of cheers. She was getting quite savvy at evading his smooth discourses, something he was so good at with her when they first met.
Beside him, Mr. Big was lowered down by Tyron, close enough for Nick to realize he was there by the volume of his voice. "I wouldn't be too alarmed Mr. Wilde." Mr. Big chortled as he revealed his eavesdropping. "I'm actually betting on Ms. Hopps tonight!"
Before Nick could respond, the announcer, a rather boisterous fruit bat by the name of Tony Fledermaus, flew up to the mic and grasped it with his feet. Taking position suspended upside down on the ceiling pipes, he brought the mic to his snout, "Ladies and gentlemen! We have a very special bout for you tonight, one I'm sure you've been waiting for all evening! The previous battles are nothing compared to the amazing miracle you are about to see here tonight!"
Judy rolled her eyes at the narration. This really wasn't all that big of a deal to her. Promptly ignoring the remaining polemic drivel, she punched her gloves together a few times to get a feel for their weight and balance before placing in a mouth guard to protect her teeth from any brutal punches. The world seemed to drown out as the adrenaline-like flow of blood began to rush to her head, pulsing with the beat of her heart. Her entire focus was on the fight looming and pre-visualizing ahead of time each counter to every possible move of her opponent.
She almost didn't recognize the sound of the bell when her senses perked up to the lumbering polar bear lurching toward her from across the ring. As expected, Ramon made a clumsy swing at her as she vaulted into the air to try and land a punch on his muzzle. The whistle of air slamming past Judy as her feet barely cleared the furred fist warned her that although this was billed as a friendly match, Ramon was clearly out for blood. The crowd cheered at the initial swing, thoroughly expecting a good fight. Only Nick, lost amongst the crowd saw the clear intent in the polar bear's movements.
"Carrots!" He called out with his hands by his mouth, trying to funnel the sound of his voice to her. "He's in it for real! Take him down quickly! Don't try to show off!"
It was nebulous if Judy had heard Nick at all as she skittered between the stomping feet of the massive Ramon. She leaped to the side as he slammed a foot down onto the mat, rumbling the entire structure beneath his weight. Sensing the visual cues of his body language, she bounded towards the elastic ropes bordering the ring, allowing it to slingshot her back at him with incredible speed and force. As expected, she caught his punch in full swipe with her powerful hind legs. She kicked hard off of them, forcing the gloved fist back into his face, cleanly wiping him to the floor with the might of his own strength.
Tony blared out over the crowd with unabashed enthusiasm, "What an amazing turnaround folks! The meek, cute, little bunny has outclassed the rough and dangerous polar bear!"
"Don't call me cute!" Judy thundered into the air. Her request was unfortunately lost amidst the din.
"But what's this?!" Tony cried out in mock surprise, bringing his wings in tight against his body. "It appears the mighty polar bear is getting up for another round! What amazing resolve!"
"Mr. Big, it's over! She won. Can we call it off now?" Nick pleaded as he pushed and shoved his way over to where the kingpin shrew was being held.
Mr. Big raised a bushy eyebrow as he looked down on Nick. "Ramon is still standing and is able to continue the fight. Even I know better than to end the match before it is over. We'd have a riot on our hands that even I couldn't control. No, Ms. Hopps will have to finish this on her own."
Ramon staggered across the ring, making a huge grab for Judy, intent to grip her in a hug that would squeeze the life out of her. After a running start, she slid between his legs and sprung up behind him, delivering a swift kick to the rump. It didn't do much, as expected, but it did cause the brute to fumble forward a few paces, allowing her to set up another knock-out punch, delivered by his own fist.
As she anticipated, he spun around with a crushing punch rapidly heading her way. Utilizing the bars yet again, she sailed toward the impending glove of pain, her legs outstretched. She could hear a shout from the sidelines as Nick saw the feint but it was too late. She was hurtling through the air unable to stop her momentum as Ramon pulled back the false punch and crouched down to deliver a horrible uppercut to her ribs. The impact slammed up into her spine as she spiraled upwards into the air before slamming down hard onto the mat.
Judy's ears were yanked backwards hard as her face came up from the boiling vat of heated water. Gasping for air, her eyes darted around the dank room filled with musty pipes and disgusting filth. Before she could gather her bearings, her face was plunged into a second vat of icy water. She tried to rear back and put all her paws on the container in front of her, utilizing all her strength to push away from the torment but her assailant was too powerful.
She cried out in pain as the fluid forced its way down into her lungs and seared her chest with a fire that was unbearable. She was wrenched backwards, sputtering as she hacked up the water from her innards. She barely had any time to think before her head was plunged back into the boiling water, assaulting her senses as the heat stung her face like a thousand knives. The pain of breathing in the water was even worse the second time around.
At long last, jerked upwards and tossed into a shabby, lop-sided chair of questionable craftsmanship, a lone spotlight shone down on her trembling form. Taking a few seconds to assess her situation, she noticed she was almost naked, her police uniform having been ripped to shreds and hung in tatters about her bruised and battered frame. The room was dark save for the blinding light but she could make out several bulky silhouettes, shifting and flapping through the inky blackness.
A rather booming voice from beyond the spotlight made her jump in the chair, "Who else was with you?"
Still dazed from the water torture, she struggled to regain control of her senses. "I…don't know. What's going on?"
"Do not lie to me little bunny! Who else was helping you?!" The voice bellowed louder, causing her to wince at the volume of it.
Judy began shivering now, the chill of the room finally settling into her bones. All she knew is that she just wanted this to stop. Exhausted, she admitted, "I have no idea what you're talking about. Please let me-"
Before she could finish her sentence, a small clawed hand smacked her across the cheek drawing blood, knocking her to the floor. She became to scramble away but was picked up by a hind leg and lifted into the air. All sense of equilibrium was thrown out the window as she was swung in an arcing circle before being smashed into a nearby pipe, the bones in her back seemingly screaming out in terror as she felt several pops. She landed with a heavy thud as her head hit the cold, concrete floor; a few moments of lucidity and then blackness.
"Judy! Judy! Get up!" A voice was trilling in her brain as she fumbled to figure out the source of it. Her eyes lazily began to open as she gazed up into the concerned face of Nick, still wearing his audacious maroon shirt and fuchsia tie. "You only have three more seconds to get up or you've lost the match! Are you able to stand?"
Her eyes flashed open as she realized where she was and what had happened. "Yes!" She exclaimed as she bounced to her feet, much to the cheers of all the onlookers in attendance. She cursed herself for not seeing Ramon's feint earlier. She figured he was just some dumb polar bear grunt that didn't learn from his mistakes. Of course he'd figure out she would nail him again with his own fist. She would have to call him out on his feint with one of her own then!
"What? Seriously?" Ramon stammered uncomprehendingly as he saw Judy stepping back up to the plate, gingerly limping to favor the side she was punched on but still standing tall. "You just don't know when to quit, do you little bunny?!" He bent low at the knees and splayed his arms wide and roared at her. If his boxing gloves weren't on, she was sure his claws would have been out and primed for the kill.
"You're darn right!" She laughed, determination burning in her eyes. The challenge was set and she was keen to meet it!
After cracking her neck to the right to de-kink a few stiff muscles, she side hopped around the gargantuan beast as he slammed a fist into the floor just inches from where she was previously. She skittered up his arm and aimed a few well timed hits to his nose, causing them to bleed from their impact. She back-flipped off his head as he swung his other paw upwards in order to capture her; he growled as she alighted softly onto the mat a few meters away, steadying herself with a glove.
Stomping across the ring he anticipated her leaping backwards towards the elastic bars in order to propel herself back at his face again. Hiding the sneer creeping onto his maw, he performed his frontal punch feint once again in hopes to catch her in another uppercut. He dropped his hauteur the moment he perceived Judy's angle of attack was not head on but rather skewed to the side. What was she doing?
As projected, Ramon's initial feint zoomed past her as his swinging uppercut came rampaging from underneath. This time she was prepared for it and in mid-air twirled ninety degrees, rolling up into a tight ball before exploding her limbs outward, catching the upward swing from the side and staggering the awkward polar bear laterally from the potency of the blow. Before he could recover, she used her thrust to aim for the nearest ring rope to launch herself again at Ramon.
His upper arm was still high above his collapsing bulk the moment she crashed into its gloved covering, causing the enormous paw to ram into the bear's face with enough vigor to push him the rest of the way down onto the floor. Several teeth splattered out of his jaw as his snout hit the hard fabric, blood pooling beneath his open mouth. Tony Fledermaus boomed the countdown until it was no more. Judy was declared the victor and wads of money was tossed around as bets were claimed and lost. Mr. Big made out rather well that night, nodding to himself as if he knew the outcome all along. Ramon would be working toilet duty for months to come at the homestead.
It was well after the event had ended and the majority of the semi-sober attendants had filed out into the night for a drunken filled round of the bars that Judy began to relax in the locker room of the gym. Her boxing gloves and helmet having long since been hung up in the cabinet labeled as hers, she took off her tank top and examined her ribs. She tentatively spread out the fur to get a good look at the bare skin beneath and cringed at the rather nasty, black bruise slowly spreading across her abdomen. It was going to be a good, long while before that one went away; best to not let it show too much to her parents tonight.
"Carrots? You still in here?" Nick hollered into the room. Rounding the bend of the row, he saw a rather exposed Judy scrutinizing what looked to be her chest. "Ayyyia!" He exclaimed, swinging around to avert his eyes and maintain some sense of propriety. "I thought you would have been dressed and ready to leave by now."
Thinking it rather fascinating that he got so flustered at her in these situations, she egged the situation on as she wrapped a towel around her bosom. "You know you came in wanting a peep."
He gazed off towards the far end of the rather musty smelling room, tapping his muzzle in mock thought. "Do I think you have a strong presence? Yes, yes I do."
"Nice avoidance." She snickered as she headed off to the open showers.
"You've grown quite bold there my fuzzy friend." Nick remarked as he crossed his legs and leaned up against the nearby locker row, his ears flitting up at the sound of the water sprinkling down onto the tiled flooring beyond the wall.
The comment gave Judy pause as she reached for the bar of lather to rub into her fur. She did have to admit she was way more comfortable around Nick these days than when she first met him. She chuckled a little at remembering her first visit to the Mystic Springs Oasis, a naturalist club where patrons who frequented there did so because it was a way to release their inner animals and become free from society's burdens…one of which being clothes and any sense of modesty. Nick had taken her there not just on a profitable lead on her first case but also to get her uncomfortable to the point of quitting altogether.
"Yeah, I guess I have." She admitted as she rubbed the lather into her fur, lightly dabbing it through the part where her bruise was forming. "And you've grown rather shy in this regard." She added, prompted a chuckle from Nick.
She couldn't deny that she was way more comfortable with herself as not just a cop but a bunny as well. They never did go back to the Oasis again but Nick had helped her crawl out of her shell. She was still diffident when it came to her body and revealing it to others but for some reason she was rather relaxed around Nick. She shrugged her shoulders as she rubbed the soap through her long ears, taking care to not get it into her eyes; she figured being partners on the police force for almost a year did that to you.
After a few minutes, Nick asked, "So Carrots, it still boggles me why you agreed to this whole fiasco in the first place. It wasn't because of the money involved because you made none off of it."
"You're right." She smiled as she felt the warm flow of water down her body, washing the soap through her pelt. "I'm just happy Mr. Big won and will make good on his promise to help local charities. Some good will come out of this and I'm content with that."
Nick waved his hand in the air to ward off her answer, even though he knew very well she couldn't see the gesture. "That's not what I meant. I understand that part. I'm talking more along the lines of before that became ingratiated into this whole mess. You took the challenge without a thought to your own safety or your own job position in the force."
"Yeah, so?" She quipped, scrubbing down the rest of her legs with the suds.
Crossing his arms, he supposed, "So here's what I'm thinking: You were growing up in your bunny colony of probably about two-hundred-fifty plus brothers and sisters with little in the way of standing out amongst your peers. You wanted to become something more than a simple carrot farmer and set your sights on the seemingly impossible job of being the first bunny cop in the greatest and largest 'utopia' in the nearby provinces. As a result you had a few bullies in your hometown that pushed you down and beat you up, which further cemented your dream of becoming that first bunny cop to the point that you now stand up to any challenge or any bully that crosses your path. Ramon included. Am I close?"
She scrunched her nose in annoyance at how well Nick wheedled out the truth of things just by hypothetical stories. "Yeah, so?" She repeated with a bit of aggravation laced in her voice. She tapped her foot irritated as she heard a small snigger emerge from beyond the shower wall as he reveled in his small victory.
Their gaiety died down the moment Nick's radio crackled to life at his hip. Even though he was off duty, he still carried it around in case something came up that sparked the need for their involvement. "All units, we have a code 261 in the prairie district of downtown central. We need all available units with kits and…uh…previous experience in these matters to report to the scene at 428 Humphrey Lane."
"What was that?" Judy called out as she turned off the water to get a better listen to the radio chatter.
"Nothing." Nick called back, turning down the volume of the radio. It was Officer Benjamin Clawhauser, both receptionist and radio dispatcher of the ZPD. A rather friendly cheetah of considerable girth caused primarily from his love of donuts and all things fried. He was loved by all in the ZPD because of his amusing personality and his general enthusiasm for all things Gazelle, Zootopia's resident celebrity singer.
"Can you please turn around?" Judy called out from around the corner.
"I can do you one better Carrots." Nick smiled as he strolled to the end of the row and set up camp on the other side, allowing Judy plenty of privacy to get dressed up for their visit to her parents tonight.
After some shuffling of clothes and swishing of fabric, she called him back out into the open. A small breath caught in his throat as he beheld the diminutive bunny. She was sporting a full length red dress with orange-yellow floral print that crossed over her midriff from her chest down to her right thigh, splitting open to reveal the bottom half of her leg. It had several cotton buttons that gave it an oriental flare spaced at intervals down its front.
Nick visibly gulped as he suddenly considered himself underdressed for the occasion. "Um…Carrots? We are just going as friends to see your parents right?"
She cocked her waist to one side as she embraced her hip with a paw, "What? Is this too formal? Tonight is my little sister's birthday."
"Yeah, one sister of many." Nick pointed out.
Judy looked down at the dusty floor, "Yeah, I guess when you're the middle child of two-hundred and eighty-three, it is kind of hard to have your birthday stand out."
Nick's grin returned as he took a few steps toward her, "I understand. You want to make her feel special by dressing up and showing how much she means to you."
Judy snapped her fingers at him, "Yep, that's the reason." They both laughed at that. After their mirth died down, she pointed at his radio. "So what was the call?"
He stood up straight, almost uncomfortable that she still remembered that a call came in. He didn't want to alarm her about the rape crime on Humphrey Lane. While Judy may be a relatively new resident to Zootopia, Nick had been living here most of his life. These sorts of things occurred almost weekly when he was growing up. At the onset of Leodore Lionheart's reign as mayor, one didn't see these sorts of crimes committed much. His financial backing of the ZPD to bolster its authority helped quell the onslaught of these horrible atrocities within a few short months. After years of no rape cases, the fact this one popped up out of the blue with the threat of such heavy penalties for it was rather shocking.
"The call?" Nick stalled, trying to think of something routine. "Just a 187 in downtown square." He blenched the moment the words left his lips. A murder was just as bad and just as rare. Why did he even blurt that out?
Judy's ears stood up like a shot, her eyes wide, "Seriously? We need to get over there immediately and see what's going on!"
"There are other cops to handle this who would be just as capable as we would be. Let them do their job. We have a train to catch tonight." He reasoned.
She smiled at him like he was completely missing the point. "And we'll catch it. We're not going to take the case. We're just going to pop on over there and see if they need any help and then be on our way. It's not a big deal. Besides, we bunnies have a great sense of hearing and smell. I might uncover something they may not." She pattered along gaily with Nick trudging behind.
"That's what I'm afraid of." He mumbled.
"Dang Hopps!" Officer Swinton snorted as she observed her stylish getup. "Aren't you off duty right now?"
"Oh shush!" She silenced the swine born colleague. "I just heard the call and came to see if there was any need for assistance."
Swinton glared over at Nick for explanation but got nothing more than a shrug. Pivoting around to Judy, Swinton jabbed a finger in her direction, "Well, we have it all covered here Hopps. So you can move along now. Officer Pennington is in there with the victim now and is handling the crime scene just fine."
Before Judy could move to object, the portly pachyderm pitched forward out of the small doorway, barely big enough for her frame. Her eyes lighted up at the sight of Judy. "Oh Officer Hopps! Great timing! I need you in here. I could use a second pair of eyes on this. Something doesn't sit right with me."
"This is highly irregular Francine!" Swinton grumbled at her partner as Judy smirked at her displeasure before drifting past him, leaving Nick out in the rotating red and blue lights of the squad car, thinking desperately of something in common to talk about with the piggish cop to while away the time. Francine led Judy into the apartment complex and up a flight of steps before squeezing herself through the tiny door into the dim lit flat that seemed to belong to a female bongo resident.
Judy brought her paws to her mouth as she looked on in horror at the half naked form of the fleet footed mammal, spread eagle on the floor, eyes shut and seemingly beaten to death. "Is she dead?" Judy probed hesitantly.
Francine scratched an itch under her arm with her trunk before answering, "Nah, she's just out cold. We initially called it a rape case," An intake of breath from Judy. The very thought seemed outlandish to her but the elephant charged onward. "because of the excrement coming from her…womanhood." She pointed with her nose at the nether regions between the bongo's legs where indeed it looked like a small pool of fluid had gathered just beneath the victim.
"So it isn't a murder?" Judy clarified, looking up at Francine, her ears fully flat on her back.
The elephant sniffed loudly, "Who gave you that idea? No, in fact, I'm not sure what it is." She pounded over to the open kit on the table, freshly opened and used with samples taken. "After my examination, there seems to be no sign of forced penetration or residual semen. In all honestly, it actually smells like her than anyone else."
That got Judy to wiggle her nose as she knelt down beside the comatose bongo, taking in deep whiffs of the potent odor. It did indeed smell like one animal's scent and not two. "What is her name?" She asked.
"Olivia Stipe." Francine clarified flatly.
"Any witnesses?" Judy grilled, her gaze wandering up the woman's body, scanning for any other clues outside of the visible scratches and bruising.
"None. Her neighbor one floor down heard some loud scuffling about an hour ago along with some muffled cries and called it in. We came to the scene to discover her like this." She motioned again to the body.
Judy nodded her head as she continued the inspection. What was odd was that although the claw marks coincided with the torn ribbons of her clothing, which indicated a scuffle before being knocked unconscious, the ripping open of the female's undergarments seemed deliberate; almost like an afterthought…or a cover-up to make it look like a rape had occurred. Her scrutiny landed on two pinpricks of red at the base of the jawline, just along the primary jugular vein.
She indicated the markings to Francine. "Did you see these puncture holes yet?"
The pachyderm squinted in the darkness. Several of the lamps that had adorned the small coffee tables flanking the plush, brown couch were apparently knocked over; two of which were broken and one flickered intermittently. "No, I guess I missed those entirely. I was more concerned with the rape aspect of the crime. Do you think the killer wanted her for the blood?"
Judy began looking around the apartment, "Possibly." She murmured.
Unbuckling a flashlight from inside her dress, secured in a sheath bound to a strap around her leg, Judy clicked it on and began roving its luminescence around the room. It appeared that Ms. Stipe was making dinner at the time given the fresh batch of uncut leaves unfurled on the kitchen island. Several of the finely stained cabinets had been left open. One was partially ajar, hanging on one hinge. Olivia was dragged into the living room knocking over several vases and lamps before coming to a rest at the center of her den.
Flicking the light upwards, she saw several scratch marks along the ceiling. She tracked them back into the kitchen, Francine following her with a quizzical look. The scuffs ended abruptly in a shadowy corner of the scullery just off the primary cooking area. There she found ten deep holes pierced into the wooden boards of the ceiling, separated into two groupings of five. She began to move closer for a better look when her ears detected a small flutter from the floor above.
"Did you hear that?" Judy hissed; her ears standing up on high alert.
"I'm not sure." Francine confessed, looking up to the balcony overlooking the living space. "I thought I heard something."
She followed Francine's eye line. "Is there a second floor to this place?"
"Yeah" She grunted, pointing up to the loft. "This is a deluxe studio compartment but I'm not walking up those stairs."
Judy realized the reason as she saw the small width of them. "Can I have a gun?" She opened her palm, deftly snatching Francine's thrown gun before climbing up the steps.
"Should I call in Nick and Swinton?" Francine offered.
After a moment of consideration, Judy bowed her head in the affirmative. Bringing the barrel of the gun up to her eyes, she advanced up to the loft; her window of view angled down the center bore sight with her flashlight held tightly to the barrel to illuminate the darkness. She could hear Francine radioing Nick and Swinton in as she swept the light across the sleeping area. She noticed the ivory appareled bed spread was untouched and the entire garret looked pristine. It was clear Olivia never made it up here before being assaulted.
She heard Nick enter the apartment as a soft flapping of leather alerted her to a rather bulky shape hovering over the bed. She tried to make a sound to cry out for help but the shadow was upon her in an instant. A gunshot went off. Claws dug into her expensive dress, penetrating through into her skin. She yelped in pain as the figure dragged her across the floor, smashing her through the oaken railing sending splinters of wooden shrapnel and debris to rain on the officers below. It let her go in mid-air as it sliced through the glass window above and flew out into the night.
"Judy!" Nick yelled, trying in vain to run beneath to catch her fall. It was too little too late. She smacked her head on one of the coffee tables before crumpling to the floor, the gun flinging off into the dining nook. Darkness enveloped her.
A rhythmic beeping roused Judy from her lethargic stupor. She tried to move her limbs but found that she could not. Laboriously blinking her eyes open, she flinched at the startlingly whitewash walls of a sterile hospital room, lit by unfeeling fluorescent bulbs. An IV was beside her bed slowly dripping fluids into her body through her arm. A heart and brain wave monitor was beside it measuring her vital signs. On the other side of the bed was another IV but it was slowly siphoning her blood into a rather large pouch. There were no wall adornments and it appeared the paint was cracking and peeling off from the walls, as if the place was in dire need of refurbishment.
Her eyes were brought down to the length of her body where she was shocked to discover that she was chained to the bed in heavy steel-link cuffs attached to the bed supports. She tried to raise herself up but nearly gagged as the throat collar cut the air from her throat, forcing her to slap her head back against the pillow. The jostle woke a rather disheveled Nick Wilde, previously sound asleep atop her lap, hunched over her while sitting in a roller chair.
"Nick?" She croaked; her throat parched.
He looked up at her with a rather nasty swelling on his left eye, dried blood matting his fur down his cheek. Tufts of his pelt were mottled and there were patches of bare skin where it had been completely ripped out. He sported a collar with wires dangling along its length, its entire purpose unknown but ultimately dangerous. He had iron cuffs around his wrists with links intertwined to meet up with those encircling his ankles. He was a sorry sight and it nearly broke her heart to see him like this.
"Oh Judy…" He moaned despairingly. "Why did you have to wake up?"
"Nick…who…did this to you? What's…going on?" She crackled, her voice breaking up.
"The same savages who did this to you." He gestured to her condition. "You were too dangerous to be left alone, being the leader of the rebellion and all. Our friends don't even know you're alive."
"Rebellion? What are you talking about?" With each new sentence Nick uttered, a rising sense of alarm began to infiltrate her being.
Nick folded his hands back over his ears as he buried his snout into the sheets. "Oh Judy…" She flicked her ears at the sound of her name. He rarely called her that unless he was overly concerned for her well-being and he had said her name twice now. "They'll know you're awake now and will come for you." With a loud racket in that obtrusively quiet room, he jangled the chains bound to his wrists to pull something out from the pocket of his muddied pants. In his paw was a diamond encrusted filing knife. "I brought this in to every visit in hopes that I could get you out of here should you awake." He stared longingly at it before closing his eyes in defeat. "Now I feel you'd be worse off if I released you."
Judy's heart began beating fast in her chest, she was close to panicking. This wasn't her Nick. He would never admit defeat in the presence of others. It wasn't like him to give up this easily; he was too sly for that. "I don't understand." She whispered, craning her neck to get a better look at him. The effort nearly made her swoon, the second IV had drained a lot of her blood and she felt quite weak. "Why would it be worse for me?"
He draped a loving paw over her thigh, gently covered by the white sheet. "As long as you were in here, you couldn't do anymore harm to them or their agenda. They left you alone with only daily supervision and blood drain. Now that you're awake, I don't think they'll let you off with anything less than torture and death."
"They? Who are they?" Her mind was a maelstrom of thoughts, jumbled remembrances and images flashed through her brain, trying to coalesce into some semblance of memory.
Nick simply stared at her. "You don't remember anything at all do you?" Judy shook her head slightly at his dumbfounded look. He took her atrophied paw in his own as he looked directly into her eyes. "Judy…you've been in a coma for over five years."
I knew that the best way to hook the reader into the story was to dive head first into action while interspersing exposition at key points as needed to understand character relationships and backgrounds. The idea of utilizing a Memento Mori style of approach for the story telling came quite early in its conception and was the key defining point to reveal the big twist at the end of chapter one and hook readers into the story that I'm going to tell. I'm not sure if everyone is ready for the type of dark, gritty story I'm going to unveil over the course of the fanfic, especially when its juxtaposed with the normally kid-friendly budding franchise that is Zootopia, but I write my stories for adults or at least older teens with a respect to the source material yet expanding it into territories that the original designers had not intended it to go. My only hope through all this is that I can consistently nail down Judy and Nick's personalities and relationship as I build them up as partners and possibly more. Enjoy the chapter and many more to follow!