Set after the take down of Bellwether. The doctors are having trouble finding an antidote for the Night Howler serum. There are those who think this is a coverup for something else, how could flowers make you go savage?
Chief Bogo stands up on the podium, dwarfing it once again, looking completely unaffected at the whispers and the flashes of the cameras. He's giving the press its' update, how the doctors are continuing to try and find the antidote to the serum, how the case was broken open by the ZPD and the citizens of Zootopia. Judy and Nick are on the sidelines again, and Judy's even more nervous than the first time since she messed up so badly before. She keeps nudging Nick who stands there with his paws tucked in his pockets.
"You should be up there with me this time, you are so much better at this than me. Not to mention I wouldn't have solved it without you."
"No carrots, I'll let you have your time in the spotlight." He said as she paced.
"Why? You won't be able to duck the press when you become the first fox officer you know." She said with a lifted brow and smirk as she turned to face him.
"If, cotton tail, if. I don't recall actually turning in that application you know." He quipped with a look at her with lifted brows. She fidgeted a little bit and opened her mouth as her paw fell to one of her belt pouches, but was interrupted by Chief Bogo saying,
"And here is Office Hopps to answer a few questions." His attention, as well as the attention of the press conference, shifted their attention to her. She straightened up automatically and all but marched over to the podium, ears back as she coached herself not to say anything as awful as last time. Immediately the clamor started, all the reporters vying for her attention. She picked one at random, thinking that his was one of the worst ways to play Russian roulette.
"Officer Hopps, how close are the doctors to finding a cure for the afflicted predators?"
"Um.. well as Chief Bogo said they've tried some of the more common antidotes and are starting to narrow down what they think will be most, erm, effective in rehabilitating the mammals effected." She picked another, hoping for another blank.
"Officer Hopps, how do we know that no one else can replicate this serum and go on another rampage? What is the ZPD doing to make sure we're safe from more predators going savage?"
"Um well, th-that's actually two questions." She stammered a bit. They sensed her hesitation and started to pounce on it, getting loud and shouting. "BUT" she said in a raised voice, motioning for them to quiet back down. "But the- the ZPD is guarding the serum 24/7 until it can be destroyed. No one else will get their paws on what is left of the serum." Before she could pick another someone shouted,
"But how do we know that no one else can make the serum? How do we know we're safe?" She blinked, almost like a deer in headlights and flicked eyes over at Nick who was motioning for her to try and turn the question.
"Uh.. we-well... Is the serum difficult to make? Yes, yes it is. The likely hood of someone else making it is uh- is remote." Nick nodded and relaxed. She'd do fine. She picked another trying to get control of this conference again.
"Officer Hopps, there are those who think this serum is a cover-up by city officials to hide that predators are spontaneously going savage. Your response?" Judy looked particularly offended.
"We would NEVER take part in a cover-up." She said with feeling. "We at the ZPD are here to protect and serve the public! No matter what schemes anyone commits, we will always put a stop to it."
"So then there is a scheme regarding the serum? Is it all a fake to put the public at ease and take the heat off the ZPD?"
"N-no! That's not wha-" She started with a shake of her head and an irritated look.
"When do you suspect more predators will go savage? Will the public be kept in the dark?"
"No more predators will go savage, we caught the perpetrators and the serum is under lock and key-" Before she could finish several press members started shouting their questions and suppositions without waiting for answer.
"Why has the exact information about what is in the serum not been released? Or independently verified?"
"The Night Howler flowers themselves don't cause the extreme change we saw in those predators! Could the biology of the mammals be a larger factor than originally thought? Could this just be the beginning?"
"What proof do we have that the serum alone was the cause of the predators going savage?"
"If it really was just the Night Howlers then why hasn't the traditional antidotes worked?"
"If there was a scheme all the way up to the Mayor's office, how can we be sure the ZPD is giving us all the information?"
"Officer Hopps is this just a way to make sure you stay in the public eye as the "Hero of Zootopia" as some are calling you?"
"Why you-! I'd NEVER-!" Cheif Bogo intervened in his loud authoritative way as he came up behind Judy.
"One question at a time and only when asked or this conference will be over!" He stood over her and glared around at them. It was silent except for the clicking of the cameras. Judy's ears drooped way down her back, looking as they had after her first day on the force as a meter maid. She looked over to Nick, unbelieving that they thought she was lying about this. Her face hardened with that look of determination that Nick had come to fear. She was going to do something stupid, he just knew it. She fled the podium at a dead run. "Hopps!" Bogo said only once before he shook his head and took command of the conference. "You, your question." Nick didn't stick around, he was hot on her tail. He tailed her down the halls as quickly as possible, but was getting turned around. Admittedly for all his previous questionable activity he had stayed off the radar of the ZPD, he had no idea where she was going in such a hurry or where in the building he even was.
"Carrots! You know the press is fickle. What exactly do you think you're doing by running off?" He was falling further and further behind. Sure he was in moderately good shape, but he never ran this much. He came to a slow stop in the hall and bent in half to catch his breath. "Man, I need to work out more." Still breathless he started a brisk jog down the hall. "Cottontail, where are you?" Why was she being so quiet? He always got a response out of those names, it was why he used them. He stopped in the middle of a hallway crossway looking more than a little irritated, paws propped on his hips as he looked back and forth, still puffing and out of breath. Out of the corner of his eye he caught a flash of movement. He turned in time to see her running down the hall at the far end clutching that same black case he'd managed to salvage from that runaway car. His heart dropped and he froze. He tore off after her like a bat out of hell. "Juuuuudy!" He ignored his lungs burning and the cramping of his leg muscles. She couldn't, she wouldn't- even though, deep down, he knew she would. It was who she was. He could hear someone behind him shouting down the hall,
"I don't know what's wrong with her! She showed up, demanded the evidence and ran off!" He pushed himself harder, tracking her through the halls by her scent, part fear, part determination.
"Judy!" He yelled again as he came back out into the main lobby. He scanned desperately for her and found her at the far end of the hall. She'd cuffed herself to a bench in the visitors area near the entrance, one cuff around the leg of the bench, the other snug around her waist. She was clutching a scrap of paper to her chest before she lifted her chin defiantly. The case was open at her feet. "No, no, no, Judy!" All the eyes turned to him as he started towards her. They wanted proof it was the serum. They were about to get it. He felt like he was stuck in slow motion. At Judy's name all the eyes in the room found her as she dropped her paper to the floor and swung herself up onto the bench, the cuff rattling all the way up the metal leg. He wasn't going to get there in time.
"You wanted proof it's the serum?!" Judy yelled at the top of her lungs. Bogo looked stunned for a moment, which was all the time Judy needed, he'd be too slow to get to her too, no one was close enough to stop her. She held the dart up for them to see. "Here it is! It doesn't matter if you are a predator or a prey animal, it effects everyone the same!" Her eyes flicked to Nick and his heart broke a little at what he saw. She was scared and he wasn't close enough to stop her.
"No! Judy! No Judy don't-!" She turned her head to the side and smashed the capsule against her neck and rubbed it in around to the other side as well before she hurried wiped her paw off on her uniform, not wanting it to come in contact with anyone else before she lost her mind. It was just as immediate for her as it had been for the others. She dropped her her paws and knees, panting, shaking her head violently back and forth, her ears flopping wildly as she whimpered; it was much worse than she thought it would be, losing your mind. Nick made it to her side just a second to late, he was shrugging off his shirt and using it to wipe away the left over serum. "Judy! Judy it's gonna be fine just-" He was cut off as she whirled around and bit into his arm, latching on and whipping her head side to side, as if she were trying to tear a chunk out of him. He yelled out and flung himself back. They rolled around on the bench as she bit her way up his arm. He growled on instinct at the attack and in response she landed a rough two footed kick to his midsection, launching him off the bench and leaving bloodied skid marks on the floor as he slid back, the paper she'd been holding before stuck under him. She was chattering and writhing and trying to get as far away as she could from the tether that held her in place, it rattled in the sudden silence. He coughed and gasped as he sat up, fairly sure she'd broken a rib or two. "Judy!" Her head swung briefly in his directly and his breath left him in a huff seeing her wild stare, it wasn't his Judy any more. It all happened in the space of a few moments, but officers were trained to keep cool heads in such heated moments, the press were being herded from the building, as were all visitors and any non officer, Nick included. "No! No I need to stay-!" He argued at the stone faced wolf who had gathered him up and was getting him out of the building.
"No civilians at this time sir. We've contacted EMS to see to your injuries." Despite his protests he found himself stuck outside the building.
"No I need to be-"
"Look Wilde," the officer huffed and shook his head. "Yeah I know who you are," He said to Nick's startled look. "It doesn't change anything." The press and civilians were being pushed back a good distance and barriers being put in place by a flurry of officers. Nick, being wounded as he was, was being kept closer so that he could receive treatment when the squad got there without cameras in his face, but he didn't know if that was really better. He was still close enough that he could see a little. There was a ring of officers around Judy, a precaution if she managed to slip her self imposed bonds. The radio on the wolf's shoulder shouted in Chief Bogo's voice.
"Wolford, your position?"
"I've got the civilian vic out of the building, awaiting EMS. ETA?"
"Any time. Get someone else to watch him, I need your insight on tranqs, now." Nick's eyes narrowed.
"Tranq? They're actually thinking about using a tranquillizer on her?! Are there tranqs for mammals her size?" He asked incredulously as the sirens could now be heard. Any time was right. Nick knew from the guarded look in the wolf's eyes that something was wrong. "It'll kill her, you guys can't tranq her, she too little!" He said grabbing Wolford by the shirt and trying to shake him, his hackles going back. Wolford coolly gripped both of Nick's paws and pried him off.
"Look Wilde, we're going to do everything we can for Hopps. We managed that otter fine, she will be too." Nick eased off a little, enough for Wolford to stand up. "Now stay here and wait for EMS, got it?" He didn't wait for an answer but jogged off into the building which was looking more and more like the site of disaster. Nick stood carefully, his mauled arm dripping onto the concrete, his good arm wrapped around his ribs, they hurt with every breath and every move, but he had to get closer. As he shifted the paper, which had plastered to his back landed on the ground with a little crackle. Nick looked down in surprise. It was the application he had given back to her. She'd kept it? It was smeared in his blood, torn and crumpled, looking about as bad as he felt. She had been holding it before she'd done this. Saying goodbye to him while she still could maybe? He groaned painfully as he stooped to retrieve it, folding it carefully. He went to tuck it in his shirt pocket only to recall he wasn't wearing one. With a grimace he tucked it into a pants pocket instead before he continued to make his way as close as he could without attracting more attention.
He got close enough to see Bogo and Wolford discussing something very heatedly. He caught glimpses of Judy as she frantically tried to get away, still showing her teeth to anyone who got too close. She looked more savage than he would have thought a bunny could, her face and teeth smeared in his blood and that crazed look in her eyes. There were four swat officers closing in from the sidelines, clothed for conflict in thick garments to protect them from bites. Nick's heart hurt for her, knowing that she'd be scared even in this mindless state, four predators closing in were sure to scare her. He couldn't sit here and watch while he was powerless to do anything.
"Come on, get that camera set up, get a good view of the building for backdrop so we can go live!" Nick turned around in fury. This was their fault. If they hadn't goaded her into having to prove it was the serum. Without a further thought he stomped over to the camera crew and news anchor, completely forgetting how he must look.
"You! Is this good enough for you?" He shouted as he closed in, his blood roaring in his ears. "Is this the proof you needed that we were telling you the truth? I was there when we got the evidence! I was the one who managed to get that sniper case out of the rail car before it burst into flames! Are you happy with yourself? She's just as crazy as the others now! She sacrificed herself so you idiots could be sure you were safe!" He was all but foaming at the mouth and the other cameras were up and pointed at him and he couldn't care less. "Do you even realize what she did for you people? She literally gave up her sanity to prove to you that it isn't just predators that the serum effects!" And then the nearby officers were pulling him away and towards the EMS crews. "They haven't found a cure yet! She might not even recover! Do you really understand what she did?!"
And then he was being strapped into a stretcher and being talked to one one EMS crew member and tended to by another. He was zoning out, probably going into shock. Did they realize what she had done, really? She had darted herself, knowing exactly what it was going to do to her since she'd seen it first hand, knowing that they were having trouble finding an antidote, knowing that she might not come back from this mindless rage. She knew all this and still did it, just to quell the conspiracy theorists who thought this was all a cover up, just so the public would release their collect breath and realize that the threat was over. She had sacrificed herself for them. Did they even realize the gravity of what she'd done? He must have been losing more blood than he thought because his vision was going dark. He looked up and realized dimly that he was closer to the ZPD building than he had gotten previously, it had been the only cleared spot that they could park the ambulance. Thanks to that, he got a first row seat to something he didn't want to witness, Chief Bogo tranqing Judy. He couldn't look away from her as they loaded him up into the back of the ambulance and got ready to transport him. She bared her teeth at them and went even more wild, reacting to the pain of the dart before it started to take effect. She went down, twitching and writhing still as the officers closed in and blocked his view of her before his vision went dark.