"When I was a kid, I thought Zootopia was this perfect place, where everyone got along and anyone could be anything. Turns out, real life is a little bit more complicated than a slogan on a bumper sticker. Real life is messy."
"We all have limitations, we all make mistakes, which means - hey, glass half full! - we all have a lot in common. And the more we try to understand one another, the more exceptional each of us will be. But we have to try. So no matter what type of animal you are; from the biggest elephant, to our first fox,I implore you - try."
"Try to make the world a better place. Look inside yourself and recognize that change starts with you. It starts with me. It starts with all of us."
The words of the now-legendary Judy Hopps rang out over the crowd...not just reaching the ears of every officer and new recruit, but those of a special VIP guest.
This guest was a very well-dressed tiger, with a regal bearing about him. Even if he wasn't a predator, others would have known to be weary of him; not an animal to fuck with, as some of the more lowly born animals would crudely say.
His name was Adrian Khan. His late father was the founder of Khan Pharmaceuticals, which he was now CEO of. Khan Pharmaceuticals had aided in the creation of the antidote to the "Night Howlers" which had caused much havoc and confusion in the city, thus his invitation to this event.
He was happy to help his fellow predators out of the situation, of course...but very few knew of his true intentions with the flowers.
Adrian Khan had a secret...one that he was certain would revolutionize Zootopia, and shake what he saw as a broken city to its very core.
For now, he politely applauded at the optimistic bunny's speech, and quietly made his way through the groups of animals back towards his limousine.
"Pretty...very pretty..." he thought to himself as he stepped into the vehicle. "How nice it must be, to think in such a naive way...how nice, to not be cursed with knowledge..."
Adrian Khan settled back into his seat, and once more disappeared into the streets of the city...
SIX MONTHS LATER...
Officer Nick Wilde settled back into his seat in the car, yawning with a cup of coffee on his lap, as Officer Judy Hopps sat patiently in the driver's seat, not seemingly tired in the slightest, as she stared at the nighttime sky.
"You bunnies..." Nick yawned through his words. "Always so full of energy...do you even sleep at night?"
"Of course..." Judy smirked as she stayed focused. "But not for too long...why else do you think we have so many kids?" she winked at him for a moment, before returning to the stakeout.
It took a moment for the joke to sink in on Nick, but he soon let loose with a laugh as he sat back with his cup. "Ohhh man...I think you've been spending too much time with me, carrots. I'm starting to rub off on you."
Judy just smirked for a moment, as she did her best to look around the area. There wasn't much of note...just the trees, the empty sidewalks, and the fountain that stood near the large facility, with a billboard that read:
KHAN PHARMACEUTICALS
"Bringing healing and hope to Zootopia for over 50 years."
"I still don't know why they wanted us out here." Nick commented as he scratched his head. "These guys have some of the best security around. They're practically their own police force. Heck, their own military..."
"Chief Bogo was a little surprised too when Mr. Khan asked for our help..." Judy spoke through binoculars now. "But whatever it is, I'm guessing it's something this company doesn't want to take a chance on, especially after the break-in a few nights ago..."
"Let me guess..." Nick did his best impression of the stuffy tiger. "That's on a need-to-know basis, and you don't need to know..."
Judy furrowed her brow at Nick. "How'd you know he said that to the chief?"
Nick grinned. "Carrots, you're forgetting what I used to do before I became honest..."
Judy chuckled a bit and nodded, before giving the area a few more glances with her binoculars.
"Well..." she sighed. "It's pretty late right now...if someone was gonna try to break in at this point, they probably would have-"
THUMP!
The blow to the squad car made both officers jump, as each of them reached for their tranquilizers. What they saw, however, was not a shady looking animal, but a well-dressed, and frightened leopard in a white lab coat, knocking on their window quickly.
"Open the door! Open the goddamn door!" he yelled hurriedly.
"Hey, relax! Relax, sir..." Judy put her paws up as she slowly opened the door. "What seems to be the trouble?"
Within a split second, the leopard jumped into the car between the two officers, a look of fright and determination in his eyes. "Drive!" he barked. "Just drive!"
"Wait a minute, wait a minute..." Nick objected. "You're not in your fancy lab anymore, pal, so forget about giving us orders..."
The leopard grabbed him by the collar. "If you don't drive right now..." he spoke. "You will die...we will ALL die!"
"Sir, get a hold of yourself!" Judy shouted back at the leopard, reaching for the mace in her pocket...
"You don't understand!" the leopard shouted to her. "It's deadly! It wants to kill me! Get me the hell out of this place!"
Before Judy could ask him what he was talking about, something lunged out at the car's windshield...something big.
It smashed through the glass with a ferociousness not seen in any predator for ages, a large, black, clawed hand reaching for the leopard quickly.
"What the hell!" Nick exclaimed in surprise, as Judy was too shocked to even say anything.
Before the hand could grab the leopard's neck, Nick reacted quickly, pulling a shock stick from his belt, and jamming it into the black, slimy skin, giving it a big enough shock to take out an elephant. It didn't knock whatever this thing was out, but it was strong enough to make it screech in pain, and pull its arm away.
Judy then hit the ignition on the car, and gunned it out of the driveway, going just as fast as she could, with Nick and the leopard, whose name read "Lawrence" on his tag, sitting next to her.
Nick looked out of the car's back, as he saw the mysterious black shape behind them. It seemed to be running...running very fast...unnaturally fast.
"Carrots!" he shouted. "Whatever this thing is, it's gaining on us!"
"I know, I know!" She shouted in return, looking to Lawrence. "I suppose you wouldn't care to enlighten us on the situation? Is this another night howler victim? How did you get it?"
"I'll tell you everything once we get away!" Lawrence answered, defensively. "IF we get away!"
"You're very reassuring..." Nick narrowed one of his eyes at Lawrence.
The figure running behind them stopped for a moment, and held out its large arms...suddenly, two large black tendrils shot out from both of its shoulders, which latched onto the car, keeping it from going anywhere else.
"Oh no! Oh no! Please god no!" Lawrence began to panic.
Nick felt the bump as the large tendrils grabbed the sides of the car. He leaned out to give one of them another shot of his shock stick, but before he could even charge it, the tendrils began to shake the car around, making him drop it.
Judy struggled with the steering wheel, trying to break free of the powerful extra limbs, but it was too late. The tendrils continued to shake and shake the large car, before flipping it upside down like a small toy, as the roof caved in partway from the impact, sending broken glass all over the inside of the car, and onto the pavement.
Both officers were knocked out at the moment, as Lawrence, not wearing a seat belt, was already laying on the damaged roof of the car. He quickly crawled out from underneath, and began to make a break for it, not knowing that the mysterious creature had already placed its target in its sights.
It performed an incredible leap, clear across the scene of carnage it had just created, and landed right in front of the scared leopard, grabbing him by the shirt and lab coat, and lifting him into the air.
Lawrence kicked and flailed uselessly, as two white, glowing eyes peered at him through the mass of black, a horribly large jaw opening up, revealing rows of sharp teeth, and a long, viscous tongue, dripping with god-knew what kind of liquid.
"Lawrence Tessmacher..." a distorted voice spoke through the horrid mouth. "You have blood on your hands! You are a disgrace and a discredit to your wretched society. We intend to make an example of you..."
"Who..." Lawrence choked as he squirmed. "Who in the living hell are you?"
"All you need know is that we are poison to you..." The voice of the beast answered. "You and your ilk are a blight on this world, and we intend to rot you all out from the inside..."
"Freeze!" A voice suddenly called out.
The creature looked up from its impending kill, to see the form of Judy Hopps aiming her gun at it.
"Drop the leopard, and put your paws in the air!" She yelled, as Nick quickly joined her side, both having just crawled out from under the downed car.
"Do not interfere!" The creature barked, as two tendrils suddenly slipped out from its black feet, knocking away their weapons, before returning to the face of the scared lab tech, finishing what it had to say to him.
"We...are Venom..."
With that, it bit down on the Leopard's neck, sending a font of blood flying through the air.
Both officers scrambled for their weapons, as the creature began to munch on the already dead Lawrence, they could both hear the sickening crunching and splattering noises, as the vicious monster continued to eat, its razor sharp, pointed teeth now soaked in blood, as its unnaturally long tongue lapped up whatever it could.
It had just begun to split open the dead animal's chest with a single claw, before it suddenly felt something pierce its thick skin. Judy and Nick had now found their guns, and had just sent a hailstorm of darts into its body.
The creature merely screeched in frustration, dropping the mangled body, and using its own black flesh to push the darts out. It stood its ground, and roared loudly a the two officers, a nightmarish sight, especially now that its form was caked in blood.
Before Nick and Judy could plan the next attack, the creature plunged its clawed hand into the chest cavity of the leopard's corpse, pulling out the heart in another spray of blood. It then hissed, leaving the officers alone, as it turned and leaped away with another incredible jump.
Once the shock of the attack slowly left, Nick took one look at the mangled leopard's body, and immediately began to feel queasy. He walked over to a nearby tree and knelt over, as Judy, ignoring the sight as best she could, wandered to the still-operating radio in the car.
"Headquarters...This is officer Hopps, at Khan Plaza...reporting a homicide...the...the worst homicide I've ever seen..."
The horrid scene of the crime was now barricaded by all manner of police, the remains of the leopard tech covered up as the red and blue lights flashed in the air.
Nick slowly sipped from a cup of water, staring out into space, as Judy rubbed her head and eyes, hoping that this whole experience was just one big nightmare that she would soon awaken from.
"Tell me more about this...thing..." Chief Bogo asked, trying to be as tactful as he could. He had seen what had been done to the late Lawrence Tessmacher, after all. "You said it was black...could it have been a panther?"
"No..." Nick answered. "There's no way a panther could have done what I just saw...not even one on night howlers."
"He's right." Judy nodded. "This goes beyond any crime scene photos I've seen in my time, since the academy...I mean, I've never seen anything like this."
Chief Bogo looked back towards the covered carcass. "Well...that makes two of us."
The chief paced a bit as he saw the remains being loaded carefully onto a stretcher, before looking back at the two shaken officers. "Is there anything else we know...anything we can use..."
Judy thought for a moment, before nodding softly.
"Before it killed Mr. Tessmacher, it spoke to him, saying it was going to make an example of him...it called itself 'Venom'..."
Later that same evening, in a small, unassuming apartment in the middle of town, a series of envelops lay on a dirty table, stacked atop one another. They displayed the familiar logo of Khan Pharmaceuticals.
A soft, male voice could be heard through the darkness, directed towards the same table.
"They will pay...they will all pay...I swear it..."
Not far from the table, a familiar object lay on the kitchen counter...
It was a bloody leopard's heart...