Judy was in pain, sharp cuts and dull aches made her envy the dead. She winced as a throbbing headache woke the nerves in the rest of her body. Her ribs made a disturbing grating noise as she inhaled, and the air smelled of copper and mildew. Judy's hands were numb, bound tightly behind the back of the chair she sat in, vainly she began kneading them together, trying to work some feeling back into her digits. She was blind, unable to discern any light through whatever sack had been pulled over her head, but her nose bleed had stopped, or she had lost feeling in her upper lip, she couldn't feel the warm flow that had been there when she blacked out last. She hoped that the fact that she couldn't breath through her nose was because of a clot, not because the last beating had broken it beyond function. Judy heard voices in the background.
"Rolling?" The speaker's voice was muffled and indistinct.
It was a clot. The bag was ripped backwards off her face and the set on her nose was re-broken, blood began pouring down over her mouth and Officer Hopps found herself squinting into a bright light.
"Week three coppers, five left." Judy stopped listening as a blow from behind knocked her brain into the next precinct.
Chief Bogo winced at the trauma inflicted on his officer. Judy was tough, but he didn't know how long anyone could survive these beatings.
"Any Leads on Hopps's location?" Bogo addressed the detective who had brought him the CD.
"Yes, we believe the videos are originating from the southern industrial district of saharra square, we found these while investigating a related lead." The detective's words brought little comfort.
"Any ID on the group?" As Bogo looked up he saw that the Detective's solemn demeanor had changed.
"Our team has intercepted a large sum of blood money in transit from the area Officer Hopps had been assigned." Seeing his chiefs interest he elaborated. "Nearly $250,000 in cash, the cortor has fingered his employers."
"Who are they." The detective did not meet Bogo's eyes,
"Sir," he paused, "It's the Forresters."
The following day Detective Delgado knocked on Major Wilde's door, he was holding a thick red folder marked with a black 'S' signifying the information was sensitive.
"Yes?" the strained invitation struggled through the door. Delgado entered Wilde's office as the fox looked up from his desk, which was cluttered with forms and papers stemming from an overflowing inbox. The seasoned detective's eyes lit up at the sight of the wolf, a warm smile covered his bedraggled muzzle, civilian visits, it seemed, had worn him thin. Detective Major Wilde had been assigned to lead the Forrister investigation in lieu of Detective Hopps disappearance. The Forresters were rapidly spreading crime ring that had been linked to over twenty six homicides alone, and the situation was deteriorating quickly. Delgado knew that Wilde wanted good news, a promising lead that was still under investigation had already led to the arrests of 2 hit mammals and might reveal a base of operations, the lead had borne fruit, but this report was not good news.
"Sir," he began, "We have new information on a kidnapping." Wilde's face drooped and he sat back in his chair. "A runner was intercepted two days ago with $250,000 in suspected blood money."
"Ok," Nick sighed, "Get Fangmier's team onboard with this and have them sweep last known location, get warrants for search and seize of the buildings surrounding it. I'll need to start filing for a deployment of SWAT just in case but we-" he paused, looking at Delgado.
"Sir we already have an ID on the target, and you've been cleared to lead a class four once we coordinate a raid, but Bogo just wants you to review the situation before we need you to deploy." Delgado trusted and respected Nick, Wilde had worked for nearly 16 years with the ZPD, earning commendations as a remarkably skilled and caring Officer. But Nick had succeeded after working with Judy Hopps, and Delgado was uncertain about how Nick would react to the contents of his report.
"Nick?" Delgado began "Remember that..." He didn't know what to say, "... remember, that we're going to get these guys." With that Delgado left Wilde's office.
Nick held the file his detective had handed him, it was thick and foreboding, Delgado chose his words wisely and his passing comment had given him pause. He opened the folder and looked at the contents, thirty odd pages of witness statements, another forty of logistic analysis, blueprints and insertion points. Nick flipped to the back of the report to look at the target file, and was surprised at the handwritten note resting over the paper. It was from Bogo, he lifted it and set it aside to look at his mark. That's when his heart stopped.
"Oh fuck." Nick exhaled. His chest tightened as he picked up Officer Hopps's picture, he was there when it had been taken. Her smile was barely restrained pride, it was it was during the ceremony Nick had received the medal of outstanding bravery during a raid he had lead. A door slamming somewhere in the building yanked him back to the present. Looking back at the file he saw three video discs in plastic bags labeled with "original" in sharpy. Nick didn't need to look at Judy's file, but he picked up the first of the DVDs and pushed it into his computer.
Delgado picked up a spent casing from the blacktop outside a derelict building. The illumination from his police cruiser showed droplets of a dark fluid trailing away down the street. Pulling out his sidearm Delgado barked into his radio,
"Dispatch, we have a signal 50, suspected shooting South Sahara Square moving to investigate please advise over."
"Sending another officer to secure the crime scene Delgado," Clawhouser's voice crackled over the radio, "10-1 be advised that we're reading you poorly, make sure your 'cam is on, you are cleared to pursue over."
"Acknowledged over and out."
Delgado looked down at his chest and adjusted the small forward facing camera before reaching to a pack on his belt and turning it on.
"This is Delgato, at 22:48 hours I have found a spent cartridge and a blood trail, I am moving to pursue a possible suspect."
Reaching again to his belt he pulled out a black flashlight and shined it on the trail. Walking down the street the blood led down an alley. Delgado lit the seen and revealed a slouched form against a darkened doorway. It was a pup, he couldn't have been more than 17 years old, his fur was a light manila smudged with grime and dirt but blood was pooling around his twitching form. The light from Delgado's flashlight made the injured kid flinch and shiver.
"What is your name?" Delgado asked, the pup looked at him with fear and said nothing. "I'm Officer Delgado, are you ok?" The figure in the doorframe started and seized, coughing blood as his eyes lost focus. "Shit. Shit! Dispatch 10-33 we have a suspect going into shock!" Delgado barked into his radio as he rushed to the pup's side, pulling on blue nitrile gloves,
"Delgado come again was that a 10-33?"
"Yes! Medical emergency send an ambulance we have a suspected shooting."
"Solid copy Delgado ambulance inbound."
Delgado knelt in the pool of blood and grasped the arm of the huddled victim pulling it aside and looking at his chest, any puncture in his clothing was obscured by blood. He didn't need to see the puncture, the kids clothing was bunched and dark over his upper right pectoral, Delgado lowered him onto the pavement and started applying pressure. The subject seized and coughed blood onto delgado's chest, his eyes were wide and focused looking staring at the detective
"Meer-" another spasm rocked his small frame "Meercat, wanted blo-" coughs racked his body and he began to seizure. Lights from behind cast a shadow over the young pup "Ser- serine, in the chlorine" The paramedics rushed a gurney down the alley as the light left the kid's eyes.
Nick got home late, It was almost 22:00 when he had left the office, and now at his home his clock read 22:27. He felt sick. Nick had thought that Judy was assigned under cover and that was the reason he temporarily been reassigned to the Forrister case. Opening the door to his refrigerator, something caught his eye. A slice of blueberry pie, sitting on fine china, the last one left of the treat Judy had made him not more than a month ago. Nick closed his refrigerator, he had lost his appetite.
"Goddamn it." Bogo, he set the receiver to his office phone down and looked at Fangmeier. "We have a report of chemical weapons used in south Sahara square,"
"How many?" Fangmeier asked
"Three victims so far, only one is still breathing, It looks like chlorine gas, with some nerve agent mixed in, nasty stuff." Bogo Paused. The light on his phone began flashing again "Hold on a moment." Picking up the receiver his eyes widened, "Wake up Wilde," he said "We need his team now."
Nick's pager woke him from a restless sleep, he turned over to check his clock: 00:40. Sitting up Nick looked at the small readout on his pager, "PB C4 SWAT REPORT TO HQ" Nick shook his head, trying to wake up, "Class four SWAT report to central station" he mouthed, before rising and rushing to get ready. Nick stopped in the hallway and looked back to his bed, a pang of worry gave him pause, ...Judy. He shook his head again and rushed to the bathroom.
30 minutes later Nick entered the bullpen where the other members of his SWAT team had already gathered. Like them, Nick was in full combat gear: light kevlar coveralls with supplemental ceramic plating over vulnerable regions, his suit was custom fitted, reflecting the need for the utmost functionality in high stress situations.
Nick was commander of a Class Four SWAT team. The ZPD divided the specialisation and armament of SWAT into four tiers: Class One teams were riot police, tasked with preventing property damage and detaining groups of hostile civilians. Class Two were threat neutralization, they dealt with "crime nests" where their task was making everything in a location with a gun dead shaped. Class Three were package reacquisition, be it blood money, drugs or stolen ordinance, these teams were tasked with retrieving contraband from the possession of crime syndicates. Class Four were HVT extraction, mostly hostage rescue, or chemical weapons repossession, Class Four were tasked with entering extremely hostile environments and safely retrieving fragile materials or persons.
Due to the nature of their operations Class Four were equipped with custom made gear and armorements. Nowhere was this more apparent than in Korsov's suit. The Heavy Combined Tactical Vest, as it was dubbed, was made of sculpted class three impact resistant steel under ceramic hard-plates, positioned over the chest, abdomen, upper back and lumbar region. The spaces around and in between these plate segments were composed of thickly woven kevlar and steel wire, it weighed in at 250lbs and with the addition of a 5' riot shield made the 7'6" kondile bear an intimidating presence. Other than weapons, rest of the team's gear was concealed in personal, impact resistant hard cases hanging from their belts. Detectives Felix and Cain Jacobs carried breaching charges and insertion equipment, Felix was an EOD tech specializing in demolitions, employing C4, Shaped charges and det-cord. Cain was an "Infiltration Operative" who had same goal but by different means, he was trained in lock picking, ECMs, wired surveillance, thermite and a half dozen other methods for sneaky entrances. Baxter was the Medic, hostages were almost always worse for wear and moving them was risky at best. Alex carried adrenal injections, allergenic epipens, gas masks, surgical foam, and hard set splints all of which made target transport possible, even when extracting from a hotzone.
"Bogo's going to brief us on the ride there," Nick began, "when we get on site he needs a . before insertion." Pausing, he looked at his team. "Korsov are we preped to deploy?" Korsov was Nick's Lieutenant, the tank of a bear gave a thumbs up, one of the few gestures that was not impeded by the HCTV. Nick nodded "Let's go."
Bogo's voice patched through the armored van's comm system.
"Sierra team this is actual, we've recovered multiple victims of a chlorine gas attack, only one of which is still alive. We need you to recover any and all remaining chemical weapons, and eliminate all remaining Forrister members. Additionally there may be hostages recover them if it is at all possible, keep in mind that the chlorine gas is the primary objective."
"Understood actual," Nick said,
"Nick?" Bogo was transmitting through Nick's helmet, he sounded concerned,
"Sir?" He was puzzled at his commanding officer's tone.
"One of the hostages may be Judy. You have authorization to retrieve her, should the opportunity present itself. She is a higher priority than the ordinance."
"Understood sir."
Bogo's voice was again over the van's comms
"You are cleared to engage hostiles with lethal force, after your insertion that complex is a free fire zone. Good luck Sierra." Just then the armored van began to slow. Sierra Team stood and as the van came to a stop Nick kicked the back doors open and lept out of the vehicle.
The derelict building was lit by the flickering lights from a dozen encircled police cruisers. It stood in the shadows of its neighbors, a mere two stories tall it sat in the outlying industrial district of Sahara Square. Sierra team approached in two groups, Nick and Cain began climbing the side of the building using rappelling harnesses until they reached the second story.
"Preped?" Nick asked Korsov over comms
"We got 'our big boy pants on and 'er ready to go." said Korsov "On your mark"
"Ready?" Nick glanced at Cain, holding up three fingers, thirty seconds before their insertion.
"ZPD!" Korsov yelled slamming the front doors with his riot sheild "Open up! We have a warrant!" Korsov paused, waiting.
"Mark."
Lt. Major Albert Korsov slammed his considerable mass into the derelict doorway. The thunderous force shook the building and knocked the heavy oak doors off their hinges, as he charged into the entryway he was followed closely by Detectives Felix Jacobs and Alex Baxter.
As mahem echoed from the floor below, Nick signaled to Cain who began working on the lock to the window, seconds later it was open and Nick entered the 2nd story. Making sure to clear the room before detaching his rappelling harness, he signaled back to Cain. But before the wolf could join him the door to Nick's right opened from the other side. Wilde dove into the corner of the room, as a pig rushed in and began stuffing papers from the table into a paper bag. The blasts from Korsov's shotgun and Felix and Baxter's assault rifles reached the second floor and Nick stood suddenly and leveled his SMG at the animal, green laser light resting steadily on center mass.
"ZPD!" Nick shouted "SHOW ME YOUR FUCKING HANDS, GET ON THE GROUND AND SHOW ME YOUR HANDS NOW" the pig started, staring, then bolted, Nick shot him. As the .45 cal rounds impacted the fleeing suspect, their force knocked him off his path where he slammed into the door frame, prompting a yell from the other room. Another gang member entered the space with his gun raised and was met with a smattering of fire from Cain who had come crashing through the window. Shots connected and the suspect limped out of the room, slamming the door shut.
"Cain get that door open, they know we're here now." Nick bent down as Cain stepped into the doorway and began placing the breaching charge, he checked the suspect he had shot, dead. Straightening up he heard Cain.
"Charge is ready"
"Ok" Nick paused "I'll lead, on my mark." Cain nodded and rested just to the side of the doorway across from Nick.
"Sierra Bravo this Alpha, breaching LR be advised" then, glancing at Cain "Mark!" the door blew inward and Cain threw in a flashbang. The grenade lit the room as Nick spun around the corner and opened fire. 2&1 2&1 2&1 the pattern was simple training, two shots to center mass let the recoil knock your aim up to the head then fire. Cain was right behind him.
"Three suspects down," he said to Nick, looking around. Noises were still coming from down stairs, but the gunfire had subsided. Korsov was throwing himself against the door to the stairwell, which was evidently better reinforced than the front door. "Let's move to-" Nick cut him off and Cain followed his gaze, there were noises coming from the door adjacent to the one they had just breached. Nick and Cain made eye contact and reloaded their weapons, stowing their partially-expended magazines to avoid making any additional noise. Making their way to the doorway, Nick patched over the radio.
"Actual, we have potential hostage, moving to acquire over."
"Acknowledged. Over and out." Bogo sounded nervous. Cain checked the doorknob. "Unlocked" he mouthed. Nick nodded, holding up three fingers, he counted down. Clenching his fist Cain kicked the door open and Nick rounded the corner to see a bobcat holding Judy in front of him as a mammalian shield. Nick leveled his gun at the assailant's head but noticed that in his left hand he held an unmarked cylinder with a mechanism attached to one end. His blood ran cold, a gas grenade. Cain rounded the corner a split second after Nick and shot the feline in the head.
"NO!" Nick yelled. As the cat collapsed back, Judy fell on top of him, and a chilling hiss emanated from the gas grenade. Yellow smoke leaked from the canister that the cat had been holding, Nick made a decision. He pulled his helmet off his head and gasped before plunging into the cloud.
Cain ran in the other direction, and saw the mass of Korsov burst through the second floor landing's doorway.
"BAXTER" He yelled "WE NEED A GAS MASK!"
Nick couldn't see, Chlorine gas formed a chemical bond with water to make hydrochloric acid, and knowing this Nick held his breath and felt the ground until he felt Judy's form, he grabbed her head and forced his helmet over it her. She thrashed wildly trying to fight Nick off her. His helmet was safely over her head when one of Judy's powerful hind legs caught him squarely in the gut. The the air was knocked out of his lungs, and reflexively Officer Wilde inhaled sharply. The Chlorine in the gas reacted with the moisture in his windpipe and lungs, creating heat and acid, Nick vomited as his diaphragm tried to drive the fluid out of his lungs. In response to the acid, Nick's body tried to dilute the substance by filling his lungs with fluid. The gas began to clear and Nick saw Judy crouched over him grabbing his head screaming, his oxygen deprived brain couldn't decipher cacophony and his body began to seize as the subtle nerve agent entered his bloodstream and attacked his brain stem. The world became boxed in as Nick's vision became narrower and narrower, than, black.
"NICK" Judy screamed, "STAY WITH ME NICK, LOOK AT ME." his eyes were losing focus, "YOU STUPID BASTARD WHY DID YOU TAKE YOUR FUCKING HELMET OFF?!" she was crying now, tears ran down her face and pooled above visors seal. "GODDAMN IT NICK LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME... Nick.. No…" he began seizing and she was crying so hard that she could barely speak.
"Judy" she spun around and looked up to see Korsov standing behind her, Baxter was affixing a mask to Nick's seizing form. She could see what looked like tears behind his mask, "We are trying to help Wilde but it's a bit hard with you yelling in our ears over comms." He walked past Judy, she could see Baxter inject something into Nick before stepping away. Korsov picked up his commander's still twitching form and jumped out of the window. He was followed after a loud crash by Felix and Cain. Baxter laid a steady hand on Judy's shoulder and made eye contact.
"Detective Hopps, your tibia is broken, may I splint it?" She looked down to where she was sitting and noticed that her left leg was swollen and bruised, she nodded weakly.
"My name is Alex Baxter, I'm Siarra team's medic," He knelt next to her slinging his assault rifle over his shoulder. He was a bobcat, couldn't have been more than 30 and looked at her with calm, steady green eyes. "I'm going to inject you with two things, the first is an aminosteroid, it boosts your white blood cell count, the second is an anesthetic, to reduce the pain of the splinting," he paused "is that ok?" she looked at him with tears streaming down her face, the pool at the base of her visor was threatening to reach eye level.
"yes" Her voice was small, and scared. Baxter didn't ask any follow up and within seconds the area around fracture was completely numb. Her leg made a sickening crack as Baxter yanked the bone back into position before quickly affixing a splint and offering his shoulder for her to lean on. She pulled herself up on Baxter and as they emerged from the room four EMTs met them with a gurney, Judy was helped onto the stretcher and fell into a numb sleep before they had finished strapping her to the gurney.
Judy awoke and bolted upright in a cold sweat, she was covered with bandages and the splint Baxter had affixed to her leg had been replaced with a plaster cast. Seconds later a nurse rushed in.
"Detective Hopps!" he started.
"Where's Nick?"
"Detective-"
"Where is he!?" Judy repeated.
"Major Wilde is recovering from surgery, the gas did serious damage to his lungs, and the fluid needed to be removed surgically." The possum was looking at his clipboard.
"Where is he!?" She demanded.
"Detective, he's in no condition to talk, he's under general anesthetic in the ICU."
"I need to see him." Judy's heart was in her throat.
"Detective, Judy" He looked at her with sympathy, "You are not yet well enough to leave your bed. BUT" he held his finger up to stop her protests, "If you cooperate with your care, I will insure that you will be allowed to see him as soon and as often as it is possible." He looked at her, awaiting her response. She nodded.
Over the next two weeks she was confined to her room, where she healed and was visited by Bogo, Clawhouser, Korsov, and the rest of her colleagues at the ZPD, her recapture had not been reported to the press, neither had her kidnapping, so she did not hear anything from her parents. Which was just as well, they would have had a heart attack if they knew what had happened.
Finally her doctor allowed her grounds privileges. The nurse who had first welcomed her to the hospital lead her to Nick's room.
"He's much better off than when you last saw him," they were walking toward a set of large double doors each embossed with Zootopia Medical ICU. "We had him on an IV with a counter agent to stop the nerve damage, so he's no longer seizing," the doors in front of him opened at the swipe of his keycard, and he held them open for judy as she limped along on crutches. "and we've taken him off of general anesthetic, now it's just a matter of waiting."
"When will he wake up?" Judy clutched the grips of her crutches. The nurse stopped in front of a room, pulling out the clipboard resting to the side of the door frame. Turning to her and looking up, she saw that his eyes were sad.
"We just don't know." He looked back to the clipboard "This is his room, you have full ground privileges and…" He trailed off for a moment, "His medical records list you as an immediate family member." He looked up again, "You have full visitation rights, stay as long as you like." The possum reached up and opened the door.
Judy walked slowly into the white room, it was almost identical to her own, save for Nick's room had almost twice as much equipment. She climbed onto a chair and sighed, tears in her eyes. Nick was lying still on the hospital bed, his chest was exposed and patches of fur were shaved to make room for electrodes, an IV was hooked in his left arm and an O2 line was resting on the end of his muzzle, his breathing was slow but deep. She climbed into his bed and hugged his arm baring her face in his side.
"You dumb fox" She whimpered "why did you take your helmet off?" She stayed there until a nurse, who came in to check on Nick, asked her to return to her room, she refused, and none of the hospital staff had the heart to make her.
Nick lay in a numb stillness, his limbs were stiff and sore, resisting any impulse to stir. He could not see, his eyelids were far too heavy, someone must have replaced them with blast doors of steel and concrete. Nick sighed and his lungs caught fire, his diaphragm spasmed as he coughed and the inferno subsided, leaving coals glowing hot in the walls of his chest. Summoning a tremendous effort he slowly pried his eyelids open, that wasn't much use, his eyes were unfocused and blurry. Nick let his eyelids slam shut, before reopening them. The room he was in was white and looking around he saw a gray mass fastened around his right arm. He blinked, furrowed his brow, and gasped.
"Ju-" Nick's vocal cords protested and strained, Judy was lying fast asleep clinging to his arm, her chest was warm against his fur and her head lay heavily against him. Much of her form was white rather than gray, she wore a hospital gown and a cast encased her leg. Patches of fur were absent on the back of her head, making room for stitches and plaster to mend the beatings she had received. "Ju-" he coughed again "Judy" she shifted, "Judy" his voice was gaining traction and he began trying to shift his body into an upright position. Nick started as Judy's head snapped up, the purple of her eyes striking a startling contrast to the sterile environment.
"Nick!" she leaped into his chest and fastened her arms behind his back. Nick wheezed and coughed through his smile, and as Judy pulled away, he redoubled the embrace.
"Judy" his voice was hoarse and barely audible. "Why am I still alive?" Nick relaxed his arms as Judy sat up and looked him.
"Baxter got you in a mask and Korsov jumped out of the building with you." Her smile, left her face, it was replaced with mock anger "You stupid fox," she teased "Why did you take your damn mask off? You could have been killed"
"Because if you died," Nick began then stopped "I became an officer, because of you, I Joined SWAT to help you, I became head investigator on the Forrister case because you went missing." He paused, "I am here because of you, so if you died, I feel like," He lifted his gaze "I would be dead too."
Fin.