Told you the second chapter would be updated sooner. Originally they were planned as 1 single chapter. But it grew much bigger than I thought it would. And this Becky arc still isn't done. (One more chapter, after which she'll become a rarely recurring character.)
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The walk to the monorail station had been a long and silent one. Safe for Beckie's whimpering which grew less and less with each step the took away from her house, and the lullaby that Nick had hummed to her. When they finally got to the station it was well past evening rush hour and Becky was fast asleep. They managed to find an empty cart and sat down. Both letting out a hefty sigh. Becky stirred in her slumber, and Nick moved his tail to her face. Still half asleep she grabbed it and cuddled the fluffy extension as if it was a stuffed animal.
No longer angry, only tired and defeated Judy started. "Nick, none of this is okay. We need evidence we don't have to back up those accusations, and even if we did have them, you went outside the law. Beating a non-violent mammal, threatening his life, and removing his child out of his custody, something you don't have any authority for." She placed her face in her paws and sighted. With a trembling voice she continued. "Nick I need to know why you did what you did, and if you're going to turn yourself in." *Or are you going to force me to do it*.
A sad smile formed on Nick's muzzle. He scratched the sleeping donkey behind her ear and softly replied. "Look at her Fluff. A little over an hour ago I beat up her father in front of her. A mammal who should have been her caretaker, who she should associate with safety and comfort. Yet here she is, hugging my tail like it's the only safe and good thing in the world." He let out a mirthless chuckle. "But you want to know how I knew what she suffered through. There were many things tipping me of, so lets begin shall we?" He licked his teeth. "Honestly the first hint was the strongest, when I sat dawn next to Becky on the swing I smelled scent-block from her genital region."
"You smelled scent-block?" Judy asked with crooked eyebrows.
Nick shrugged. "Scent-block works, even on us canines. You spray it on anything, and no mammal will be able to smell the original scent. But it itself does have a scent that mammals with good noses can pick up."
"So? Nick, a cub smelling like scent-block isn't proof of anything."
"Come on Fluff you can't be this naïve. Mammals spray their private parts with scent block because they want sexual privacy. Without it plenty of Mammals will be able to tell who they've been rutting, and how long ago. But why on Earth would a 5 year old need that kind of privacy? But let's for the moment just say that her father thought it could help stop a rash or something. Then I could still smell him all over her. Now a father touching his daughter is the most normal thing in the world. But this was going beyond what would have been appropriate. And before you ask. Yes I could smell that it was her father's send on her, before I even had met the male. A fox nose is good enough to pick up family bonds." Now that he had started he kept going on, he pretended otherwise, but he needed to get all of this off his chest. "So that was already enough for me to strongly suspect rape, and Judy you only need to look at the poor girl to see she's chronically malnourished. A donkey is supposed to be what, like 10 times as heavy as a fox? There's no way I should have been able to pick her up as easy as I did. And then there was her pretending not to know her address, so we wouldn't be able to get her home. Because come on Judy, what 5 year old doesn't know their address. It's how they're supposed to get back home safely if they ever get lost. If I had not tricked her with a game to play, she'd never show us where she lived. Combine that with her lying when she told us she 'luwe my daddy very much'. Early she'd already shown that violently shaking or nodding her head was her tell. And when we finally got to her place, and that sick piece of dung opened the door. I smelled the same scent-block coming from his junk. That was all I needed to know beyond a doubt what he was doing to the poor cub. So to summarize we have the following evidence.
Matching scents of scent-block on both her and her father's private parts.
Her physique clear evidence of chronic malnourishment.
Her lying about forgetting where she lived, so she could stay away from home a bit longer.
Her lying about her home situation.
And this is a big one. Her clear and undeniable relief when I ensured her that he'd never hurt her again.
But being utterly and completely honest Fluff. I knew about her the moment I saw her. I've seen too many abused and neglected cubs not to recognize them when I see them. "
They fell in an uncomfortable silence, Judy was the one that broke it. "Nick, arguing that you aren't right, because you obviously are. But none of that will stand in court, and it doesn't change that you broke the law."
Nick took a deep breath. "Judy I took an oath when I graduated from the academy. I swore to 'serve and protect and uphold the law', those words in that order. I shall not break that oath till my dying day, and they tell me my duty towards those in need of my protection comes before my duty to uphold the law."
Suddenly angry again Judy exclaimed. "You could have done both! We could have taken the cub to the appropriate agencies, and arrest and trial Jack Equin. You threw away due process without a second thought!"
Becky had started to stir, being disrupted from her slumber by Judie's loud words. Nick padded her on the back, and she drifted away once more. He sighted. "The cub's name is Becky Fluff, and you said it yourself, none of the proof we had would stand in court. Yes we could have arrested that sorry excuse of a mammal and yes we could have put Becky in a foster home. But what happens next? We don't have the evidence to prosecute him, and the only way to get more would be to let Becky take a physical exam. I'm certain if we let her take on right now, we'd find her father's sperm inside her. But we can't let Becky take such an exam without the consent of her caretaker. And I highly doubt that Jack would give it to us."
Baffled Judy retorted back angrily. "We don't need Jack's consent! All we need is Becky to lie down allegations against him, and we could get the exam underway."
A flash of irritation shot through the mask that Judy hadn't been aware he had been wearing. "Really Fluff? Really, you're going to demand a traumatized five year old to lie down allegations against her Father? I don't know if you've ever been sexually assaulted, and I pray that you never will have to suffer through that. But I've seen what it does to mammals, how it damages them. It can take a mammal years to gather the strength to come forward and lay down charges. And you demand a five year old to do it within the short time that we can lawfully keep her out of her Father's custody? A five year old that doesn't understand what has been happening to her, who probably thinks it's normal, and has definitely been thought never to speak of it by the hand of numerous beatings. I know you're not that cruel. The law can help Becky, maybe it can even someday punish her Father, but it can't guarantee that he never comes near her again."
Her anger had turned to shame and despair. "Is the law really that broken? Is there nothing that it can do to protect her with the evidence we do have?" She wondered more against herself then against Nick.
The fox shook his head. "The law isn't broken here Carrots. Clever mammals put a lot of thought into it. They could make it so that mere suspicions would be enough to remove cubs from their caretakers custody, but what would then happen if a pissed poorly adjusted mammal would call in a false anonymous tip on how the neigbhours are beating their cubs? Because those kind of Mammals do exist. Or what if a kind and loving father who just the worst day of his life, and when his son bugs him he snaps and hits him. He immediately regrets it, and makes it right and it would never happen again. But a concerned citizen just so happened to have only see the blow. What would happen then?
The thing is Carrots removing a cub from their caretakers custody isn't a trivial thing. It shouldn't be done without due consideration and strong evidence of wrongdoing on the caretaker part. But this does mean that in cases like this, where you know that there's wrongdoing, but can't proof it. Then it does mean that the law can't truly protect the cub.
So if the law can't help Becky, then my oaths force me to do it. But I trust your judgement about this Carrots. If you think that my actions betrayed the uniform, and you still think that at the beginning of tomorrow's shift. Then I'll surrender my badge and turn myself in."
The bunny had buried her face in her paws. "Crackers this is one messed up situation. Did you have to threaten and beat him up like you did?"
"We punish criminals in a hope they won't return to their ways, and to help their victims find closure. In this case I couldn't do that with the help of the law, so yeah I had to do it by myself. But I won't deny I took a perverted pleasure in doing it."
Emotionally exhausted Judy surrendered. "Okay Nick, you've convinced me. You did what you had to do. So what do we do now?"
Nick's face lost a lot of tension, he sighted. "Now we take her to St. Gerbil Emiliani house for orphans."
