A Time of Crime

by thecrazystorywriter14

For a police officer, Nick Wilde never imagines a difficult life. But being a police officer creates tension in his own life, endangering himself, his family, and his friends. Disease creates a long-lasting debt on his lifestyle. He becomes a hero and a significant person saves him from near-death. T for recurrent medical information and situations (excluding sexual references).

1. The Gang

A Time of Crime

By: CrazyWriter (thecrazystorywriter14)

Chapter 1: The Gang

The streets of the busy anthropomorphic city of Zootopia fills with mammals of several types: large and small, skinny, and overweight. Some feature tails longer than their own legs, others possess tails barely visible from five feet away, and the remaining own no tails at all. Fur colors range from orange, brown, red, white, black, or some fur with a mix of the colors. Just as variable as the fur colors, the mammals' clothing varies: some wearing tuxedos to a formal dinner, and others wearing mixes of informal clothing.

The stench of emission stains the air, blending with the other familiar scent of fast food fries and motor oil. The sun provides the all-too-familiar feeling of warmth, combined with the mammal-made heaters, emulating the sun's action. The sound of incessant chatter, the honking of horns, and babies' crying fills the air.

Two mammals face each other – one is a male canine with copper fur; the other is a female, gray-furred, long-eared, leporine mammal. Both the former and the latter mammals wear blue law enforcement uniforms. The only difference of the two is that the former mammal wears a black tie, which he had fastened to his crisp collar. His pants hang loosely over his legs. Unlike the fox, the rabbit sports a black vest, strapped to her chest. Her entire suit stretches skin tight over her fur.

"You're so lazy," the female rabbit shouts, clenching her paws into fists. She anxiously holds her thin arms to her sides and fiddles with her fingers. "I hope you remember that we're on the job, right? You're delaying both of us from our duties."

The male canine holds up his finger, eyes on his mobile device. As if a weight is hanging from his forehead, his head remains downward to face the screen. "Wait. I gotta finish this level of Zandy Crush," he says, looking up for a moment, but quickly returns to his former state.

"Nick," the rabbit protests, her eyes widening. "You've got some time later during break to do this. Right now, I need another pair of eyes for patrol."

"Well, how bout you go try and find some?"

Judy, the rabbit officer, rolls her eyes at her partner and turns around by using the ball of her foot to spin one-hundred and eighty degrees, her back to her friend. "Not my fault if you get in trouble," she says over her shoulder.

Nick scoffs and returns to his game, unaware of the mammal across the street – a sheep, dressed in a blue police uniform.

This sheep, previously spying on the fox and bunny, ducks behind a nearby mailbox and heaves a heavy, exhausted sigh. "Why am I wearing this?" he says, pulling off his mask to reveal a gray, perspiring wolf. "It's hotter than the sun's surface in there," he complains, waving his paw at his snout. After a few moments, he pulls out his communicator. "This is Officer Wolfard, undercover. We've got a problem," Wolfard puts his snout into the mask and inhales deeply, coughing ferociously. "If Bogo wanted this before, he won't now," he says, coughing, looking at his communicator, and speaking into it again. "Chief, I repeat: 'we have a problem.' "

"What, Wolfard? I'm in a hurry," the gruff voice of the chief of police of the Zootopia Police Department, Chief Bogo, replies. After a moment with no response, Bogo continues, "Wolfard, get back on the line. I don't have time for nonsense."

"Sorry, sir," Wolfard replies, blinking a couple of times, still attempting to comprehend the odor of his undercover mask. "I saw a commotion between two of our officers across the street," he cranes his neck to attempt to get a better view. "Well, at least I think they are."

"What do you mean, 'at least I think they are?' Are you struggling to perceive if these so-called 'officers' are having a commotion, or if they are our officers?"

"O-Oh, yes, sir. I was struggling to know who they are."

There is a slight pause, and Chief Bogo continues. "I was telling the community board, we needed to restrict hiring officers on the margin of grammar..."

After a moment without any further reply, Bogo heaves a large sigh. "Can you see which officers they are?" he replies while Wolfard does his best to portray a sheep. Occasionally, Wolfard glances toward the two officers, while simultaneously trying not to raise suspicion.

"Can't exactly get a clear view yet. However, I can get what they look like," Wolfard affirms, squinting. "Is that enough?"

Another moment of silence. Bogo takes in another stressful sigh. "I would assume an association with my own officers would promote my ability to recognize them. Now hurry up or I may have to demote you."

"Yes, sir. One of the officers is male - if only our male officers wear ties - and has copper fur, a long orange tail -"

"Okay, that's enough. The other?"

"Grey fur, long ea-"

"Okay, Wolfard. Got it. Send them both in," Bogo grumbles, slamming the button with his giant thumb to halt the communication. "Why, why, why?" he complains to himself. Still in his office, he glances up at Clawhauser, who Bogo had been oblivious to.

"Sir?"

"Clawhauser! What are you doing here?" Bogo's eyes widen, and he presses his lips together. His face falls to his normal stern mood.

"Who are you talking to?"

Again, Bogo's eyes widen and he bites his tongue. His "You know what, Clawhauser? Get me some coffee. That's what I need right now. Now go. SHOO!" he screams, waving the chubby attendant out of the office.

Twenty minutes later, the large chief, casting a large shadow on the floor, takes a large sip of his coffee and remains for a moment in silence. Two troublesome mammals, called in by Wolfard, sit adjacent to one another, exchanging glances occasionally. Finally, the huge figure begins, eyes cast on the fox. "Negligence of police duties, failure to follow police protocol, and reckless endangerment," he slams his fist on the desk. "A duty of a police officer is to protect life and property, not to play games on a phone, Wilde," he says, giving Nick a menacing stare.

Chief Bogo turns his head to the female law enforcement officer. "Frivolous troublemaking," Bogo stares her down. He then interchanges his glances to Officer Wilde, then to his partner. "I don't want you both prancing around like little six-year-olds, trying to show the world how not to act professional! It simply gives a bad example to those who are near you," he says, pausing for a moment, taking in a few deep breaths.

"So, let me get this straight," Nick says, holding both paws out in front of himself. "Is the entire purpose of us coming to this meeting today for you to scold us about-"

"Shut your mouth, Wilde," Bogo snaps. "You don't want my patience tried any more than it is right now," he says, slamming his fist on the desk. He takes two of his fingers, consistently and slowly interchanging the 'I've got my eyes on you' gesture at both. "Now, I don't want another fight, additional backbiting, or childish horseplay to be reported regarding either or both of you again, or I will definitely consider having you start packing. All right?"

Nick sighs and nods. "Sure."

Bogo looks at Judy. "You with Wilde?"

"Yes," she replies, smirking.

"Good," he opens a folder before him and entirely reverts the subject. "Wilde, Hopps. We've got a serious matter on our hands and we need you both, being on your best behavior, to properly solve it. Clawhauser will give you the complete case file. You mess up on this one, and I won't be the one letting you go - and not just of your jobs, your lives are at stake," he stands from his chair, using his wrists as support, and walks to the door. "And this time, try not to mess up," Bogo tries to grin as he gestures his paw out the door.

"So, we've got a case for you both, as Chief already told you," Clawhauser states happily, surveying the main lobby of the police station, placing his chubby paw on the granite countertop, simultaneously taking a bite out of his donut and ingurgitating his soda, disregarding the disrespect to his fellow partners and his inability to be comprehended while his mouth full of food. "Now I wanth yotuhs toth–"

"Slow down," Nick interrupts, firmly holding his paw out in front of him. "We got time. Swallow, then talk."

Following his instruction, Clawhauser can speak with comprehensive ability. "Sorry about that. Go ahead and open the folder. If you have any questions, I'm over here, y'know, stuffing my face."

Snickering lightly, Nick firmly flicks the file open and reads the small paragraph of information placed upon the paper. "Multiple reports of assault have been filed because of a small gang of rhinos patrolling the dark alleyways of Tundratown. Your mission is to properly arrest, compromise, and rid these rhinos from the streets," he looks at Judy with a blank glance. "Sounds kinda life-threatening, doesn't it?"

"You want to continue, or you want me to start off from where you were?" Judy asks, her arms crossed across her chest and her foot rapidly tapping on the linoleum floor.

Smirking, Nick reads aloud the entirety of the page. After he concludes, he shuts the file and plants his back to the counter. "At least with this report, we actually have evidence. Plus, glass half-full, I'm not involved in the case."

"Well, don't get your hopes up. I wouldn't be surprised if I found a description of you in the assault report," Judy smirks, offering a look as if to say, 'try to find a comeback to that.'

"Now, miss smart aleck," Nick pauses to mentally rehearse the entirety of the make-believe conversation in his head. "Would my description be included as the person who was assaulted or the assaulter?"

"Why don't you answer that yourself?" Judy pauses for a moment to allow the comeback to seep in. "Howbout you, your smart mouth, and I get going? At this rate, a snail officer could've compromised those rhinos in no time."

After a short, frivolous argument and a traffic-filled drive, the two officers arrive in the snowy Tundratown, each wearing a blue winter coat. Judy agrees to follow Nick's lead as the two officers scavenge the area. Nick runs his foot through the snow already gathering around, bends down, and runs his paws through the slush gathering in the gutter. Grimacing, he shakes the mush from his now wet paw and rubs his paw on the front of his coat.

He looks up from where he stands, in the middle of the dark road, and looks ahead to the trio of rhinos conversing unintelligently. There they are," Judy whispers, turning to her partner. "We can compromise them with the elephant tranquilizers. You have them, right?"

His eyes widen as he slaps his hand to his face. "Dang it," he yells, quietly contemplating his reluctance to bringing the weapons. "I forgot them. Let's go back."

Judy puts her finger to her lips, eyebrows curved in anger at her friend's loudness. "Be quiet! We don't want them to–"

"You don't want us to what?" The voice is menacing. The two officers hadn't noticed that the rhinos had quickly strolled over to them. The first rhino positions himself directly behind Nick, who whips around to find the massive figure looming over him. Glancing up at the figure, Nick's body feels as stone, and an icy feeling travels down his spine. Two other rhinos stroll over to the two officers. Nick waves Judy away, who attempts to snatch her partner's wrist, but he deliberately dodges it from her to avoid any further harm. This time, with more force, Nick uses all his energy in his shoulders to propel Judy underneath the nearby rhino's legs. Nick disappears from her view by the three gangsters, and she carefully looms in the shadows to avoid their detection.

The terrified screams of her friend penetrate the air. Relief floods her body, but simultaneously, an unwanted sense of sorrow bubbles in her senses. She finds herself wishing to be the victim, and have him carefully hiding in the shadows. Carefully analyzing her current state of endangerment, Judy ducks behind a building while the three rhinos search for her.

"Where is that rabbit?"

"I don't know, sir. What should I do with the body?"

"Leave 'em. I'm sure he's dead already."

Nick awakes in a bed and knows something is different. Glancing down at his chest, he notices that someone had replaced his uniform with a large green gown. A series of machines monitor him. His eyes dart around the room, attempting to figure out where he is. It is a clean room, white in color, and features a window, shades open, allowing the sun to illuminate the room brighter than the sun shining on snow on that frigid winter morning. Judy is on his left, in a chair, asleep from a day of staying by his side.

Being awake now, and sitting in his bed, a startling sense of peace encompasses him. He remains still and takes a deep breath of consciousness. Halfway through this relaxing inhalation, pain seizes all feeling of his upper body. With tears developing in his eyes, he reaches his paws and gently hovers over the appendage suffering from the most intense, acute pain, his head.

Chills seize his muscles as he slowly lowers his arm to the side of his body, resting it flat on the covers. Did I break my skull? The thought penetrates his thought processing and lingers. He assures himself that the doctor would confirm that, and he takes a deep breath, feeling the same burst of pain.

The doctor walks in, then noticing Judy's slumber, walks quietly, and approaches his patient's bed.

"Well, guess who's awake," the doctor says to him, flipping through the medical history on his clipboard. Completely oblivious to his abnormally loud tone, Judy wakes instantly. "According to this form here, you only suffered a minor skull fracture, which we have already fixed through surgery," the doctor says. Nick rubs his head and discovers a large, white bandage wrapped from the top of his eyes to the base of his ears. Tired, he hesitates to speak. The doctor walks up to the machines and begins fiddling with them, scribbling down a few iotas of information displayed on the monitors. Looking up at his patient, he says, "Mr. Wilde, do you remember how you got hurt?"

Nick nods. "I think it was a group of rhinos, right?" he says, looking at Judy for confirmation. He yawns and stretches his arms above his head.

Judy smiles. "Yes, that's right."

The doctor smiles, still looking at the machines. "Do you remember where you live?"

"One-three–" Nick begins. Intense pain overtakes his chest, and at once unconsciousness overtakes him. and his pupils dilate, his eyes rolling to the back of his head. Waiting for an answer, the doctor leans over the arrested patient. Holding up a communicator, he speaks into it. "We've got a code blue."

Seconds later, a startling beep emits from the nearby loudspeaker, momentarily after the doctor begins chest compressions. "Code blue, rehabilitation. Code blue, rehabilitation."

Judy glances at her friend, once awake, and now unconscious in a matter of seconds. Fear crowds out all emotion in her brain, and all that she feels is fear and anxiety. Subconsciously, she rises from her chair and leans over her friend.

A few nurses from a nearby patient's room rush to the now unconscious Nick, and the doctor continues chest compressions, frantically yelling orders to the nearby nurses. Judy dashes around, tears pouring from her eyes, bumping into a few hectic nurses before collapsing in a chair at the side of the room. An idle nurse kindly leads Judy from the room, shutting the door behind her. "We have a policy where we want to avoid frantic visitors in the case of a code blue, okay? It's not that any of you are annoying, it's just – we need room to work, and if you want your friend rejuvenated, we need more space for doctors and nurses in that room."

Shortly after the nurse speaks with Judy, another nurse rushes in with a defibrillator, handing it to the doctor, who turns it on. "Start on 200," he says, placing the two pads on Nick's bare chest. "Clear," he instructs to the mammals surrounding the unconscious patient, sending a jolt of electricity through him. The doctor places his two fingers on his patient's neck. "No pulse," he mutters, again reaching for the defibrillator. "300," his eyes dart around the bed. "Clear," another jolt, then the doctor hopefully places his fingers on his unconscious patient's neck once more. "We've got a weak pulse! Get him to recovery, and put him on metoprolol tartrate, 5mg rapid for two minutes, and after, do 1mg/5min for an hour."

An unknown amount of time later, Nick wakes, nobody to welcome or accompany him. He lay still for a moment, thinking. Wondering why he had joined the police force. He ponders on how he is going to pay for all of this. At that moment, Judy walks in with a frown and lit up at the sight of the now conscious Nick. She runs up to him and considers his eyes. "I thought I lost you," she says through tears. Her paws gently wrap around his neck, and she weeps into him. After a moment, she releases and once again considers him.

Nick grins. "I'm fine. How long was I out?"

"Not long. Probably 20 minutes. You had a heart attack. They took some tests."

Nick's eyes widen. "I'm perfectly healthy," he says as the doctor walks in.

The doctor smiles and silently rehearses the diagnosis. "Well, we found the cause of your heart attack through the tests we took. We ruled it as coronary artery disease."

Nick's jaw drops, eyes short of popping out of his skull. "But I'm healthy! How is that possible?"

The doctor frowns, grinding his teeth. "Through the tests we took, you're not. You had an abnormally high blood pressure, and elevated levels of cholesterol and sugar in your blood."

Nick frowns. "Is there a cure for it?"

The doctor holds up a syringe. "Yes, there is. But this drug was expensive. The name is still not available to the public."

His eyes widen. "How much is it?"

"This one dosage alone costs around $500. Do you approve for paying that?"

Nick nods. "Insurance should cover it, so go ahead," he says as the doctor sticks him with the needle.

After a couple of hours, the doctor found an increase in Nick's health, so he signs the release form and delivers it to his patient. "First, fill out this form, and after, call me with this red button," he says, motioning to the small device by Nick's side. "Call me whenever you need me or one of my nurses. We'll be happy to help."

After Nick fills out the form, he taps on the red button and the doctor walks in. "You finished with the form?"

He nods, handing the form out to the doctor, who takes it. He points to the door. "Your uniform is in there, so get changed and one of my nurses will lead you out."

Nick changes and walks out, straightening his tie. A nurse places her hand on Nick's back, leading him out with Judy by his side. They walk out to Judy's awaiting police car, and they both jump in. Nick waves to the kind nurse as they pull out of the hospital.

Later, on the road, Nick's communicator blares, and he picks it up. "Officer Wilde, this is Bogo, over. You prepared for another mission?" Bogo says.

"Sure, why not?"

"Well," Bogo sighs. "I need you both to go back to Tundratown and take down that group of rhinos."

"No way," Nick says, shaking his head. "I'm not going through that again. Besides, another hit to my skull and I'm dead. So is my wallet."

Bogo sighs. "It was my fault you got hurt. We didn't have any tranquilizers at the time, so I put myself responsible," he pauses. "Did you notice that you didn't get a medical bill?"

Nick taps his head. "Yeah?"

"It wasn't because they messed up, or they had a delay. I paid it, Wilde."

"Why?"

"I already said it, Wilde. I put myself responsible for your injuries, so I paid the $17,371 that they billed you."

"Fine. We'll go back to Tundratown. As long as you have those tranquilizers."

"We do, Wilde. So, get to it, and take them down, no matter what it takes."

Within minutes, the two partners sit in their police cruiser, waiting to approach the alleyway in Tundratown. Judy halts the vehicle just before the alleyway, and they get out, tranquilizers in paw. Nick looks at the group of rhinos standing casually in the middle of the alleyway. Nick points them out silently, and Judy nods as she starts to approach them. Nick smirks and checks the dart in his gun, then aims it forward and shoots perfectly into one of the rhino's arms. Seconds pass before the massive figure lies unconscious on the concrete sidewalk.

The remaining duo look across the street, flabbergasted. Gaining slight confidence, one follows the other across the street. Looking into the snow, the rhino follows the tiny tracks until they end abruptly in the middle of the sidewalk.

He looks up, and before he can respond, a tiny figure swings from up above and kicks him straight in the face. Off-center, the rhino crashes to the ground in a heap. He groans as he rises from the ground, and within seconds he crashes to the ground again, unable to move. Judy stands behind the rhino, holding the tranquilizer gun. Nick holds a rope, hanging from a pipe, in his left paw and looks at the unconscious felon.

The remaining rhino of the trio charges up the sidewalk, snatching Nick from the sidewalk by the back of his shirt, tearing a sizable hole into it. Nick, looking at the rhino, consults him angrily. "Excuse me?"

The rhino stops moving his other paw to the fox. "What do you want?"

"Oh, sorry to disturb you, but you just put a hole through a very expensive uniform. You don't want to know how much that will cost you. By the way, have you heard my phrase before?"

"That's nonsense, fox. Besides, you won't live to say that phrase," he resumes moving his paw toward the fox.

"Wait," Nick says, halting the rhino. "What if I told you I could give you something if you didn't hurt me?"

"What is that, fox?"

Before the rhino can even begin wondering Nick's mysterious offer of a gift, an extreme force conquers the rhino's balance. Within seconds he lies on the floor. Nick holds up his tranquilizer dart, shooting the rhino in the arm. His body goes limp and his eyes remain open.

Within minutes, a large police van pulls up, and three officers shove the three gangsters into the van.

One officer that arrested the unconscious rhinos turns to Nick and Judy. "The chief said you're both excused," she mutters, stepping into the nearby police van.

Nick calls a taxi and orders the driver to take him to his place of stay, previously confirming that Judy had obtained a ride to travel to her lone apartment. The ride is pleasant and calm, the driver ends up being kind and compassionate - unlike many of the other taxicab drivers. During the ride, Nick glances outside his window to the sunset, beautiful and illuminating.

At his destination, Nick walks through the old grey door to the ghetto kitchen, where his grandma sits at the table, reading. She is a graying, four-foot-tall fox wearing a black 'don't mess with me' shirt and a pair of grey sweat shorts, a pair of glasses on her snout. "Why, it's my Nicky. How was your day today?"

Trying to avoid the question, Nick attempts to sneak past her, but the hairy eyeball she offers him stops him in his tracks. "Alright, I see, playing hard to get," she says after donning her additional pair of glasses. She cracks her knuckles and smiles amusedly. "But, Nicky, I'm still waitin' for an answer to my question. In case you forgot, it was 'how was your day today?'" After a moment of silence, she sighs. "I'm still waitin', Nicky. I can do this all day."

The question "how was your day" is common in his family, and plenty of the members accepted an 'it was good' or 'it was okay', excepting her. She wants and had always wanted detail. Nick fiddles with his tie. "Well, I had to take down a group of rhinos in Tundratown today."

His grandma smiles cheerfully. "Oh, did you now. Get going with whatever you were gonna do. Dinner's in the fridge. I got enough for ya'," she says, returning to her book after donning her reading glasses again.

Nick sighs with relief and walks to the kitchen, where his brother, named Jack, is standing, looking at his phone. He is a 29-year-old fox who appears like Nick, except with a more uneven chin, darker fur, and eyes with a much more significant slant, and with shaggier eyebrows. "Hey, bro," he says, again gluing his eyes to his mobile device. "How was the day at the ol' police station?

"Y'know, same ol', same ol'," Nick replies sluggishly, pulling the door of the refrigerator open. He fiddles his paws in the internal storage of the large cooler. "What's for dinner?"

"Chicken noodle soup," his grandma yells - eliminating Jack a chance to answer - from the other room. She is old, but she can cook. And by cook, she can cook. Nick licks his lips, throwing the bowl of leftover soup into the microwave.

Nick takes the bowl out, walking up the stairs to his room. The furniture inside appears as it was nineteen years earlier, as if he was a teenager: garbage, candy wrappers, cups, and banana peels littering the floor. The wall is dark blue and beginning to fade. The single large window sitting in the back of the room remains dark and unilluminated from the lack of sun.

When the time was right, Nick occasionally sat upon the windowsill that very window to ponder his day. Subconsciously, he would gaze at the sunset or whatever celestial festivity the sky had to offer, be it fireworks or the like.

Back when he had just applied to the police force, his grandmother had bet him that if he successfully joined the police force, he would receive the room. If the police force rejected the application, then he would have to return to living under the old abandoned bridge as he did before.

He places himself upon the ragged bed sheets. Without taking the energy to doff any of his police clothing, he slowly consumes the food made by his grandmother. Shortly after returning his mobile device to its place on the bed, a sound emits from it, prompting the fox to immediately check his messages.

A single lone text message from Judy is, "Can I come to your place tomorrow?"