Chapter 12: Isn't It Quiet and Cold?
Crouching in front of a door with peeling paint, Ash kept himself quiet. So much as a heavy breath ran him the risk of being heard from the other side of the door. He feared being caught, but considered it a reasonable risk at this point. The musty room he had been locked in for God knows how many days had finally gotten to him. No longer could he stand falling asleep to the buzzing and flickering of the sickly yellow light overhead. This prison was no longer going to confine him.
With a final few jabs of the thin screwdriver, the lion cub heard the last few pins of the door lock pop into place. He twisted the allen wrench and felt the deadbolt begin to slide. Making sure to keep quiet as possible, he twisted the wrench until the lock fully retracted. He breathed a sigh of relief and slowly wrapped his paw around the door handle. The cold metal underneath his fur slowly turned, letting out a small squeak as it moved. He stopped turning the handle and pressed an ear against the door. The music emitting from down the hall continued to play, and he could not hear any footsteps approaching.
Ash turned the handle once again. When it ceased movement, the door opened slightly as a draft forced it. He let the door swing open slowly until there was a large enough gap for him to fit through. As the cub stepped outside, he felt the chill of the air make its way underneath his fur. Typically, Ash hated the cold, but he welcomed it now. The room had no air conditioning, leaving it hot and miserable, more often than not. This led to countless occasions of him waking up sweaty and stuck to the filthy bedspread.
For a brief moment, he paused and lifted his nose in the air to smell the fresh air. Even though the bitter cold began to sting the inside of his nostrils, he did not care. Breathing in air that did not smell of mold and decay was a small blessing, but a blessing none the less. After quickly savoring the moment, Ash turned on his heels and silently crept down the long hallway. The entire right side was covered in doors to other rooms, while the left side was open and exposed to the outside. He had no idea what this building used to be, but it was something to think about another time.
Nearing the end of the hallway, Ash pressed his back against the wall. He stood in silence for a moment and listened. Since he had gotten closer, the music he could hear had grown louder. Turning his head around the corner, he could see the room all of the animals in this complex dreaded.
The door to the suite was open, and the large mammal who he had grown to be deathly afraid of sat with his back to the doorway. The beast wore a dark trench coat and a large brimmed hat. Every time he opened the door to Ash's room, his face was completely hidden in shadow and an unending darkness. All though a burning rage at this creature for the atrocities he had committed burned inside the cub, it was dwarfed by the immense fear of what he did.
Ash shook his head and forced the thoughts to the back of his mind for the moment. The beast had stood up, and was walking towards the door. On his way out, he switched off the music and picked up a filthy rag from the table. It had been stained with dirt and grime from years of abuse. Ash could have sworn that some of the brownish spots on the rag looked like his clothes when he scrapped his knee and the blood dried on them.
The beast lumbered with heavy and booming footsteps down the hall in Ash's direction. His first instinct was to panic, but he soon came to grasp the situation. Turning to the left, he quickly hopped onto the railing and peered over the side. He was met with the sight of a two story drop to the ground below. Not seeing any other choice but capture, Ash swallowed the lump in his throat and slowly lowered himself over the edge. He let go with one paw and let the other hang him down a bit further. Suddenly, the feeling of a cold maintenance pipe greeted the pads of his feet. He let his fingers release from the ledge. As soon as he did so, he pressed his back against the railing. While keeping his balance as close to the railing as possible, he shifted towards a column.
Just as he slide behind the column and obscured himself from view, he heard the footsteps turn the corner. As they drew closer, Ash could swear he felt the stucco of the column against his back shake. They grew closer, then even with him, and then pass. He crept to the edge of the column and turned to regain view of the hallway.
The beast had passed Ash and was now four doors down. His prayers had been answered that the beast had not chosen his door tonight. It pulled a ring of keys from a coat pocket and shuffled through them. After a few moments of metal gangling, it slid the key into the lock and turned it open with a groan. As the door opened, the sickly yellow lighting flooded out and illuminated the hallway.
"What the hell is this?!"
He spoke with a booming and scratchy voice. The beast stormed into the room, slamming the door into the wall in the process. Ash could hear the sound of the door knob breaking through the deteriorating sheetrock. As he watched in horror, the beast crouched down over the bed in the corner of the room. When he straightened back up and turned, Ash could make out the shape of a doll in his paw. The small toy was soon thrown out the doorway, where it skidded to a halt on the cracked concrete floor. It had been crafted together from scraps. Although most young mammals in Zootopia would turn their nose up at such a crude toy, Ash felt his heart break. The smiling face that had been drawn on with what must have been an old pen, stared at Ash from the floor. This doll had been the only object of comfort for whoever was in that room. The last shred of hope that helped keep their sanity was now gone.
As the door to the room slammed shut, Ash walked along the pipe back to the railing and climbed over. Turning one more time to make sure the door had been fully closed, Ash ran to the end of the hallway. He came around the corner and found the door to the suite still wide open. Breathing a sigh of relief, he ran inside. Like his room, it stunk of mustiness and neglect. He did his best to ignore the smell and began searching.
"There has to be one somewhere…" he whispered to himself as he jumped onto a couch.
Now having a higher vantage point, Ash was able to see the tops of all furniture in the room. His gaze panned over everything until it stopped on a desk in the far corner of the room. There, on the worn and splintered surface, lay a telephone. Ash felt his spirits rise at the site of communication to the outside world. He jumped down from the couch and hurried to the desk. Although his height surely was not anything to brag about, he was still able to stand on the tips of his toes and reach on top. When he felt his fingers curl around the base of the phone, he pulled.
The device came falling down quicker than Ash had anticipated. It crashed on top of his head and then made a muffled bang as it made contact with the dusty carpet of the floor. Ash quickly righted the device and placed the receiver back on the base. Making sure none of the wires had been pulled loose, he lifted a finger and began to dial 9-1-1.
"Who the FUCK isn't in their room?!"
The voice of the beast came roaring down the hallway where it bounced around the room like some hellish echo chamber. Ash felt his blood run cold, and his fur stood on end. He soon found himself unable to move as fear flooded his brain and cut off any ability to move. Even as the booming footsteps came closer and closer to the suite, Ash continued to sit on the carpet with the receiver of the phone gripped tightly in his small paw. The footsteps became louder, now almost booming in his ears. The beast finally stormed through the doorway. He looked around before his gaze landed on Ash.
"YOU," it screamed as it raised a large paw and pointed a finger at the cub.
Lunging at him, Ash finally snapped out of his state of paralysis. As two large paws became ready to engulf his small form, Ash jumped to his feet and sprang forward. He opened his mouth and bit down as hard as he could. His small but sharp teeth easily broke the skin of the beast's paw. Ash could feel the warm stream of blood gushing from the paw as it poured into his mouth. The taste of metal overwhelmed his taste buds, and he could feel the blood beginning to soak into the fur under his chin.
The beast flung his arm to one side, causing Ash to fly across the room. He slammed into a wall and immediately dropped to the floor like a rock. The wind had been knocked from his lungs upon impact, and he took a few seconds to recover. Before taking in a deep breath, Ash spit out the small chunk of flesh he tore from the beast's hand when he went flying across the room. As he stood up and made his way towards the door, he noticed the beast hunched over with his paw pressed tightly against his stomach. Ash took this opportunity and ran.
Sprinting out of the suite, the cub ran with all his might towards the railing. Reaching it, he once again climbed on top and peered over the side to the ground below. The wind had picked up, and now howled into the endless dark of the night sky. Ash shook with fear as the ground seemed to be growing further and further away.
Suddenly, he heard a scream erupt from behind him. The beast had now wrapped his injured paw in the filthy rag he carried into every room of the complex. As he pulled the knot tightly, blood stained the surface and began to spread all over it like a disease. The beast stood up and began to run full speed in Ash's direction. From within the shadow cast by his hat, Ash could now see yellow eyes glowing brightly with rage and fury. Whatever evil hid behind those eyes, Ash knew he did not want to experience.
He turned to the ground once more and took a deep breath. No matter what outcome awaited him at the end of that fall, he knew it would be better than staying where he was. No cub, or any mammal for that matter, should ever need to make such a decision, but Ash knew it was the only way out. Even if this jump meant the end of his life, he knew it would be better than whatever awaited him in the arms of his captor.
Taking one last breath, Ash enjoyed the sensation of cool air on his face one final time and jumped.
"Alright, fine. I guess I'll go next since you can't work up the courage."
Judy gave Nick a small punch on the arm. She did so with a smile.
"I don't see why I should have to take two turns in a row. We learned in kindergarten how to take turns, but I guess you forgot," Nick said as he took another sip from his cup.
"Well, since someone decided to finish off the trail mix without offering me any, I feel it's justified for you to take two turns in a row. I'm starving, and we're going to be on duty for at least one more hour."
Nick cocked an eyebrow and gave Judy a playful smile. He reached down to the floor and retrieved the now empty trail mix bag.
"If you wanted any, then you should have asked."
"Or maybe you should've been a gentleman and offered me some to begin with."
Nick chuckled as he patted the top of Judy's head with his paw. He knew that she hated it, but he knew seeing that small amount of aggravation on her face was worth it.
"Alright, Carrots, let's make a little deal. If you go next, then I'll give you this entire thing."
Nick reached down between his seat and the door, retrieving a second bag. Judy immediately jumped in her seat and extended an arm in an attempt to grab the bag.
"I'll give it to you if you agree, Carrots. Do we have a deal?"
"Yeah, yeah, sure, whatever!"
At the utterance of her last word, Nick dropped the bag down within her reach. Her small paws grabbed hold of it and ripped the bag from his paw. Judy tore the bag open and began to engulf its contents.
"My, my, someone has quite the appetite."
Judy threw him a glare, her cheeks full of food. When he did not reply to her gaze, she returned to stuffing herself.
"What the hell did you expect from me? You're the one who refused to stop for some dinner before we came out on patrol."
"First off, most mammals would consider it rude to talk with food in their mouth. Like I said before we left the apartment, there was no way that Jagger's would let us carry out. Even though we eat there at least once a week, it's still against their policy."
Judy tilted the bag in the air and emptied any crumbs left in the bottom of the bag into her mouth.
"Who said anything about a sit-down restaurant," Judy asked with full cheeks. "We could easily have picked up some fast food."
Nick shuttered at the thought of eating another meal from a drive-through window. Just the image of a white paper bag with the bottom about to split open from being soaked with grease made him cringe. They had done so three times already this week, and Nick's stomach probably couldn't handle any more of the foul meals.
"After we get off, I'll cook us a good meal when we get home. Does that sound good with you?"
"Only if I get to pick the wine."
Nick smiled and leaned over to place a kiss on Judy. He was denied when she lifted a finger and blocked the path of his pursed lips.
"You can get some of this after you cook dinner."
Nick smiled, not truly upset at his defeated attempt.
"As we agreed, you go next. So, who was the youngest in your family?"
Judy paused for a second, starring out the windshield. After a few brief moments of silence, she spoke.
"Well, the youngest I remember was my brother, Greg. If you thought it was bad that Finnick lost his virginity at sixteen, then you better prepare yourself."
Nick leaned over the center console, over-exaggerating his curiosity to Judy's answer. He knew it got to her, and just loved it.
"Please do tell, Officer Hopps."
"Ten."
The insides of Nick's ears went red as they lay flat against the back of his head. The thought of such a young bunny committing a sexual act sent a shiver down his spine.
"You're kidding me? Can a mammal that young even get hard? How the hell did your parents even find out about it?"
"I have hundreds of siblings. No matter how far into our property you went, there was always someone within earshot. Apparently, they were doing it out in the middle of the corn rows. I was only nine at the time, but I remember it pretty well. It was the first time I saw my parents get truly angry, my dad especially."
Nick took a sip from his cup and wiped the residue from his lip with the back of his paw. Finding his burnt orange fur stained, he wiped it off on his uniform. In his mind, no one would notice a stain on a dark blue uniform.
"I honestly can't even picture your dad being slightly upset. He just seems like such a loveable guy."
Judy snickered.
"Well believe me, he can really get angry. It's extremely rare that he does, but when it does happen, you don't want to be within a ten mile radius. He gets tense and his eyes go wide. Typically, he'll ball of up his paws into tiny fists and grind his teeth. He thinks it's intimidating, but it's honestly hilarious."
Nick soon found himself struggling not to laugh as he pictured Judy's father seething with rage. The image of Stu about to boil over with his small size was the funniest thing to Nick.
"Alright, I went, now I get to ask the question."
Nick held up a paw as he wiped away a tear from his eye. Letting out a final few chuckles, he signaled for her to continue.
"How old were you when you first touched yourself?"
Nick was taken aback by this. He knew that Judy was not as innocent as most mammals thought, but this unexpected question took him by surprise. He was expecting her to ask something about his youth, but not something so personal.
"Really? That's what you want to go with?"
Judy nodded, a smug grin pulling at the corners of his lips. Just when Nick thought he had his little bunny all figured out, she would throw him a curveball. He leaned over the center console and tapped the tip of her nose with his finger.
"I'm just warning you; I'm going to go to into this with very graphic detail. Are you sure that this isn't going to make you uncomfortable?"
Judy leaned in closer, her nose almost touching Nick's.
"I want every juicy, filthy detail."
Nick laughed as he sat back into his seat. He cracked his knuckles and placed his arms behind his head.
"All right, Carrots, if you insist."
He placed a paw up to his mouth and pretended to clear his throat. Judy knew he always had to do something stupid for dramatic effect.
"It was a cool summer afternoon. I was on the brink of being fourteen years old at the time." Nick said in an overly sarcastic tone.
Judy forced a paw over her mouth to stop any laughter from escaping. She did not want to mess up this golden moment.
"My mother had left the house to attend a party with some of her friends. My young innocence was left alone at home. Since Finnick was busy at that time, I had no one to entertain me. I was left to my own curious devices. Everything went south when I drifted into a highly inappropriate part of the internet."
Nick was suddenly cut off when the loud ringtone of his phone burst throughout the car. Catching both of them by surprise, Nick and Judy jumped. When they both finally recovered, Nick reached for the cup holder and grabbed his phone.
"This is Officer Wilde…"
Judy perked an ear up has she heard muffled chatter coming from the phone. Although she was unable to distinguish exactly who was talking, she could tell it was a male with a deep voice.
"Just now? No, that won't be a problem. We'll be there right away."
Nick hit 'end call' and placed it back in the cup holder. Before Judy could ask who had called, Nick threw the car into gear and pulled out onto the street. He pressed down on the accelerator harder, causing Judy to be forced back into her seat.
"Nick? Is something wrong…"
Nick refused to turn to face her. He kept his eyes on the road, his paws wrapped tightly around the steering wheel.
"Has there been another kidnapping?"
As they sped under a red light and blasted through the intersection, Judy saw the reflection of the traffic light pass over Nick's glassy, wide eyes.
"No… they got one of them back…"
Nick and Judy burst through the front doors of the ZPD Headquarters. Their loud footsteps echoed through the empty lobby as they hurried towards the back of the building. As they ran, Judy gazed around at the empty hallways and abandoned balconies that were typically bustling with officers. She found it a tad odd, but did not let it stick in her mind. There were more important matters to attend to.
They crossed the lobby and entered the hallway leading to the holding cells at the back of the building. As they ran, Judy glanced up at Nick. Just like he had been in the car, he stared straight ahead and kept his gaze focused. As badly as Judy had wanted to talk to him on the drive over, she decided against it. Nick was in a certain mindset that she did not want to disturb. Whatever thoughts about this sudden break in the case ran through his mind, they had Nick's full, undivided attention. When this was all said and done, Judy would be able to curl up next to her Nick in bed back at their apartment and talk it all through.
"Alright, where is he," Nick asked as they threw open the door of the observation room.
Chief Bogo turned from his position in front of the one-way mirror. Judy immediately noticed that his face was stone cold. In all fairness, he was typically like that, but this was far more serious than Judy had ever seen.
"He's right in there." Bogo lifted his hoof and pointed towards a table in the middle of the room on the other side of the glass.
Nick slowly walked over to the glass, his jaw hanging slightly open. Judy watched as Nick's reflection slowly became clearer in the glass until his face met it. He lifted a paw and placed it on the glass. Judy turned and studied the leopard cub sitting alone at the table in the room. At first, she thought that the cold stainless steel and the rest of the room had made him sad, but as she looked closer into his eyes, she saw it. She could not pinpoint exactly what it was, but there was something unnerving hidden deep behind his eyes.
"How long as he been here, Chief," Judy asked as she turned to face the large cape buffalo.
"Just a little more than half an hour. You two are the first officers to see him. A few of the others affiliated with the case have been informed, but they've yet to arrive."
Bogo turned to Nick, who still had his full attention occupied by the cub behind the glass.
"Since he doesn't seem to be paying any attention to us, I'm just going to go ahead and flat out ask. How many red lights did he run this time?"
"Three."
Bogo cocked an eyebrow and let out a small chuckle. Judy could tell it was forced, but Bogo was doing his best to try and lighten the situation.
"That's not too bad. Typically, he'll rack up at least five. I guess tonight was his lucky night. I'll have Officer Young wipe those tickets from our system when he arrives in the morning."
"I'll tell Nick that when we get back home. Now Chief, how exactly did this cub end up here? Did we finally find one of them?"
Chief Bogo let out a deep sigh and turned back towards the holding room. The cub continued to sit motionless at the table. Ever since Nick and Judy had entered the room, his gaze had remained focused on the glass water sitting in front of him.
"I was sitting in my office going over some lastminute paperwork, when I heard a noise from down the hall. When I went outside to investigate, he was just sitting in front of my door in the hallway."
Judy shook her head, unable to believe what she had just heard.
"What? Chief, you can't be serious."
"Oh, but I am, Hopps."
"He was seriously just sitting there in front of your door? That just doesn't make any sense."
"Believe me, Hopps, I'm just as confused by this as you are."
Completely unaware of it, Judy had begun to pace herself in a small circle. It was a habit she tried to break, but had seen little progress.
"Did you check any of the security cameras? There are hundred all over this building. It's impossible that one of them didn't catch whoever left this cub."
"I've already called in Clawhauser to check over all the footage. He should be here shortly."
"Has he said anything?"
Bogo and Judy both turned in Nick's direction. Neither of them had expected a remark from the fox, and stood in surprise.
"I've tried talking to him, but he refuses to say anything."
Nick turned from the glass and stared into Bogo's eyes. His expression lacked any emotion and he spoke with a sense of emergency.
"I'm going to go in and talk to him."
Bogo had not expected such force in Nick's tone. Instead of replying, he simply nodded his head and tossed him the key to the door. Nick took it and walked over to the door. With one final look through the mirror, Nick put the key in the lock and turned.
As the door swung open, Nick felt the icy chill of the air conditioning system penetrate underneath his uniform. The ZPD had been a little too warm for his liking when they walked in the door, so being able to cool off was a small blessing to him. He soon realized that he could use the small detail to his advantage when asking the cub questions. As Nick pulled the sunglasses from his face and closed them up to hang from the collar of his uniform, he noticed that the leopard cub had his unblinking eyes focused right on him. He didn't look scared, but made Nick sense unease hanging in the air. As Nick approached and pulled out the chair to sit down, he gave the cub a smile, keeping cautious to keep his teeth hidden as to not scare him.
"Hey there; you must be Marcus. Are you comfortable? Do I need to turn the air up or down?"
The cub continued to stare at Nick with large glassy eyes as he nodded 'no' without uttering a word. Nick was not surprised by this, considering that young ones were always difficult to start talking.
"Well, now that we have our formalities out of the way, what do you say you and I get down to business? Would you be able to answer some questions I asked you? You would really be a big help to me."
For the first time since Nick walked in the room, the cub avoided eye contact with him. His eyes shot down and stared at the surface of the metal table. Nick could feel a sense of unease coming from the cub, but this was worse than any he had felt before.
"What's wrong, buddy? Do I scare you or something," Nick asked with a few chuckles as he clicked his pen on the table top.
His question was met with the continued silence in the room, save for the rhythmic hum of the air conditioner. Nick stopped clicking his pen and stared at the unmoving cub. He had rarely had to give such a mature talk to young mammals, but he figured that this was his last chance to get the leopard talking. This might be the only lead they could get since Finnick was coming up dry. He did not want to lose this chance.
"I know that you're scared. More than that, I know exactly what it feels like to be walking in your shoes."
This caused the cub's eyes to look up and meet Nick's. Slowly, he lifted his head to face Nick. Although he composure still spoke of hesitance, Nick knew it was a large step in the right direction. He had finally broken through to him.
Bingo
"Right now, you probably feel like the world is conspiring against you. You probably feel that there's no one in this world that you can confide in to find safety and security. When I was growing up, my mother had to work two jobs to support me. She was rarely home, leaving me alone if I ever had any problems. It wasn't until years later that I met a small fennec fox who helped me in situations where I had no one else I could turn to."
Nick paused and unbuttoned the flap on the front of his uniform. Reaching in, he pulled out an old photograph with bent corners and obvious stains and discoloration. He slid it across the table towards the cub, who hesitated for a second before reaching to pick it up.
"That picture was taken on my twelfth birthday. My mom had promised to make me dinner and a cake that night, but she was forced to go in to work for an extra shift. That night, I sat alone at the kitchen table with a frozen dinner and some drinks I stole from the liquor cabinet. It was far from comfort food, but it was the only thing in the house that wasn't from a can, even though the freezer wasn't much better.
My father had left when I was young, so my mother was the only person I felt I had left in my life to trust and seek comfort from. For the first time in my life, I felt alone. I had felt lonely before, but never a sense of abandonment like this. That changed when there was a knock on my front door."
Nick reached across the table, placing a claw on the photo and tapping it lightly. He pointed out Finnick's face under the cracked and yellowing lamination of the photograph.
"There was a fox who lived down the street from me who I had spoken with a few times before. He had come to drop off some of our mailed that got into his box by accident. Although I've now mastered the art of deception, I was horrible at it at the time. This allowed this fox to easily see through me and realize that something was wrong. Much to my surprise, he opened up to me and we spent the night in my living room drinking from the liquor cabinet and just talking about life and the problems that we were facing."
As the tear began to form in the corner of his eye, Nick looked down at the photo. With a large, goofy grin plastered on Finnick's face and a bottle of beer clenched in his tiny paw, Nick could still picture that night as vividly as when it happened.
"That was the first time in years that I truly thought someone understood me and all my problems. This fox, who for a long time had just been a stranger from down the street, grew to become my best friend. I wanted to remember this turning point in my life forever. I grabbed the disposable camera from a drawer in our kitchen and took a picture. I've been carrying that on me for nearly 20 years."
Reaching across the table, he picked up the photograph and placed it back in his pocket. After buttoning the flap back, he patted it as if to secure it safely.
"The point I'm trying to make is that even at your lowest point, there's someone that you can talk to. I want to be that animal that you trust. Now I don't know exactly what you've been through, but I understand the fear and isolation that you feel. There are a lot of animals in this world that would stop at nothing to see you in pain, and my job is to make sure that you're protected."
The cub broke his eye contact with Nick and stared at the one-way mirror on the opposite side of the room. Behind the darkened glass, Judy and Bogo stared in silence. Neither of them had uttered a word while Nick spoke in the room. They simply stood motionless and watched the master work his craft. After being lost in thought for a few moments, the cub turned back to Nick.
"So, what do you say, do we have a deal? Remember that I'm not here to hurt you. I just want to see justice brought to whoever caused you all this pain."
After a few seconds pause, the leopard extended his paw and shook Nick's.
"Now that we have an understanding, let's begin."
Nick quickly turned to the mirror and nodded at the two standing behind it. Judy felt a smile tug at the corner of her mouth. Even when she had any sense of doubt, she knew not to trust it when it came to Nick doing his job. No matter how difficult it seemed on the surface, Nick always pulled through.
"The first thing I need to know is how you got here. A friend of mine says that he just found you outside of his office."
"I was taken from where I was held to here in a van. I didn't see where I left because as soon as he came into the room, I had a bag put over my head. Anytime I was taken from my room, I was either blindfolded or had something put over my head. This time when he came to get me, he also put rope around my wrists."
Nick sat still and listened in silence as the cub paused. Whatever images were running through his mind. Nick could see in his eyes that they were not pleasant.
"I was thrown into a van, and he drove for a long time. When he opened the door, he quickly cut the rope and pulled the bag from my head. He told me to walk inside and find someone named Bogo.
Nick held up his paw, motioning for the cub to stop. He squeezed at his temples as he tried to process what the young one had just said.
"Hold on just a second. If I'm understanding you correctly, you were brought here and told to come find the chief of police?"
"Is that who Bogo is?"
"Yes. Where you able to get a look at whoever has been holding you captured, even for just a split second?"
"I never saw his face, all I ever heard was his voice. From the first day I was being held, I was taught to never be facing the door when he came in. If you disobeyed, there would be serious consequences."
Nick hesitated briefly before asking his next question. Making itself known at the back of his mind, Nick had a pretty good idea what was coming next, but he did not want to bring himself to admit it.
"And what was it he did if you disobeyed?
"He never did anything to me. I always listened. The first night I was there, I could hear a girl next to me crying out as he screamed at her for hiding a toy in her room. It started with him yelling and her crying. Soon enough, it got worse and I could hear her screaming loudly. Most of what she was saying I couldn't understand. The few words I could actually hear sounded something like, 'don't touch me there, my mommy says that special.'"
Nick felt his stomach knot up as he visualized in graphic detail what the cub was describing. The kid was too innocent and pure to understand what had happened, but Nick knew very well what had occurred. His ears were now lying flat against the back of his head. Unbeknown to Nick and completely out of his sight, Judy ran to the corner of the observation room and vomited into a trash can. She quickly expelled any stomach contents as her small frame tensed. Even Bogo felt a chill go down his spine as his worst fears were confirmed. All three of them had speculated what may have been occurring with all the young mammals that were abducted, but they never wanted to face the realization of it. Now, reality reared its ugly head and shook all of them to their core.
"Um…" Nick stuttered as he struggled to get ahold of himself and form a coherent sentence.
"Alright… let's get back on track here."
Nick shook his head as he tried to erase the vision from his mind's eye. It failed to leave, causing him to continue his job with it still there.
"Did this figure tell you why he was leaving you here? It just seems odd to the rest of us that he would go through all the trouble of capturing you just to come drop you off. It just seems too… easy."
"He told me that it may not be right now, but that all of you would see what he wanted sooner or later."
Nick froze and cocked an eyebrow. At the moment, he was unaware what the statement meant. Multiple different theories ran through his mind as he pictured different scenarios that could pertain to the phrase.
He looked over to the one-way mirror and shrugged, giving Judy and Bogo a look of confusion. Behind the dark glass, the cape buffalo and bunny stood silently as each pictured a different meaning to the phrase the cub had said. Although no one in the room had conjured up the same idea, they all ended badly.
"Did he ever expand on that?"
"No. After that, he kicked me out the van and told me to go inside."
Nick let out a sigh as he found no more questions to ask. He hated to admit that he had finally hit a dead end, but it was inevitable. Standing up and pushing his chair under the table, he put the pen back in his chest pocket.
"Well, since I don't have any more questions, I'm going to go ahead and leave. Someone else will be here in a couple of minutes to talk to you about other stuff. Is there anything I can get you?"
"I'm hungry," he blurted out with enthusiasm.
"Well then," Nick said with a chuckle, "I'll go down to the cafeteria and heat up the leftovers from today. Just give me a few minutes and I'll be back."
For the first time since Nick had entered the room, the cub smiled. After all the pain and suffering he had endured, Nick felt a glimmer of hope that things were going to be better for him. Turning from the table, Nick exited the room and made sure to close the door gently behind him. As the door clicked shut behind him, Bogo walked over to a nearby table and stopped the recording machine. Two televisions illuminated the room in a soft white glow, their screens displaying every angle of the interrogation room.
"How was that chief?"
"Well, it wasn't everything I'd been hoping for, but then again, it appears that the cub doesn't know all that much. His captor did a better job keeping him in the dark than I could have imagined. He has no idea where he was being kept. That was the lead I was hoping to get out of this, but I guess that's going up in flames."
"Now just hold on a minute, Chief."
Judy's small frame walked across the room in the direction of her head officer. If it had been almost any other officer doing this, Bogo would have told them to back down. However, he knew by now that it was best to just let Judy speak her mind. Most of the time, she raised perfectly valid points that he hadn't even considered.
"We can have his fur combed and tested. If we come across any kind of foreign object that shouldn't be there, we run a chance of being able to trace its origin. I understand the odds of this being a success are low, but it's worth a shot, Chief."
Bogo crossed his arms over his large chest.
"You mean look for something like dirt or spores?
"Exactly. Zootopia and all the surrounding areas have different plants exclusive to their biomes. If we find any sort of organic material, we can trace it back to the specific biome that it came from."
Bogo nodded his head with approval. He walked over to an intercom mounted onto the wall. Pressing the button, he waited for Clawhauser to stop stuffing his face and answer.
"Clawhauser, I need you to send Marie down here from the lab. Tell her to get a fur comb as well as some sample bags."
"Right away, Chief," the cheetah responded with excitement as he finished chewing something in his mouth. The smacking sounds echoed throughout the room before the intercom clicked off.
"Typical," the cape buffalo muttered under his breath as he turned back to his two officers.
"In the meantime, I want the two of you to head home and rest up. You can come in late tomorrow if you feel like it. I understand that I called you here at such a late hour, so it seems appropriate I cut you some slack."
"Thank you, sir," Nick let out with joy. Judy had opened her mouth to respond, but Nick was ready to bolt out the door before she could even suck in a breath.
"Um, chief…" the intercom crackled to life once more. This time, however, Clawhauser's voice seemed riddled with concern.
Bogo rolled his eyes before turning around and pressing the red button to speak,
"What is it, Clawhauser?"
"The parents are here."
Bogo's eyes went wide with shock at first, but this quickly evolved into a form of seething rage that Nick and Judy had rarely seen.
"WHAT?! Who in the living hell called them over here? We still need time to get the child fully examined. We can't let them in here yet. Just keep them at the front desk."
"I don't know sir. I'm guessing one of the officers here. They just burst through the front door and ran in the direction of your office. I tried stopping them, but they ignored me. It won't take long for them to realize that you're not there and come find you."
Bogo snorted as his muscles tensed in anger. Before he could turn to the door and lock it, the metal slammed into the wall as two cheetahs burst through the doorway. Both appeared to be out of breath, and the mother had tears streaming down her face. Like most parents involved in this case that Nick and Judy had spoken with, their eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep and excessive crying.
"Where is he? Where's our little boy?!"
Bogo relaxed himself and calmly walked over, doing his best to make good of a bad situation.
"He's in the room over there, but we still need a little time to sort some things out. We can't have anyone touching him until we comb his fur. We can't afford the risk of contaminating our only lead. It would be best if the two of you wait here for a couple of minutes while one of our lab technicians handles him."
Ignoring Bogo's words, the parents darted to the door. The father swung the door open with so much force that it made a hole in the sheetrock. Nick and Judy watched helplessly from the sidelines as the two cheetahs ran into the room and scooped up the cub in their arms before he could even look up.
"Oh my God, Marcus! Thank the Lord you're safe! We thought that we would never see you again!"
As Nick began to smile at the reunion, even if they had deliberately disobeyed procedure, he watched as Marcus' eyes slowly began to grow large with fear. This soon progressed to rage as the cub extended his claws and slashed out at his mother. Even for his small size, he was able to produce enough force to cut a deep gash into her cheek. The parents dropped their child as the mother stumbled backwards, gripping her face as blood began to stain her fur.
"M-m-arcus…" she muttered while looking at her cub in absolute fear.
The cub curved his lips up, revealing small, sharp teeth as he let out a growl. Small drops of blood fell from the tips of his claws and splattered onto the concrete floor.
"You two did this to me! I tried calling for help, all you did was laugh at me and call me names!"
As the father held the mother in his arms, he struggled to find words. After stumbling over his sentence a few times, he finally worked up the ability to spit it out.
"What on Earth are you talking about, son? We haven't seen you in months. Up until a few minutes ago, we thought you were dead."
"When I had a bag on my head and was being beaten, I screamed for help. All I heard was your voices laughing at me! You did nothing to help, and it's all your fault! I HATE YOU!"
Nick watched the last three words impale the parents like a dagger. They both backed into the wall before slowly slumping to the floor in a crying heap. As the mother and father sobbed, Marcus just stared at them with intense hatred burning in his eyes. Nick could find no words to describe what he had just witnessed. In the matter of a few seconds, what should have been a joyous moment of family reunion had devolved into a show of hatred.
"What the hell was that…" Bogo let out as he stood staring through the one-way mirror. Even he was having trouble trying to explain the situation.
Judy stood motionless to Nick's side, her mouth hanging ajar as she found herself unable to speak.
"I need medical staff down here immediately," Bogo spoke into the intercom while keeping his gaze directed to the room and the parents' crumpled forms on the floor. "And also, have someone bring me a set of handcuffs and a muzzle, child-sized."
"What's the only thing worse than losing your child?"
Judy and Bogo turned to Nick who was still starring into the room. His face was now expressionless, giving them the impression that he was still having difficulty processing the whole ordeal.
"What was that, Wilde?"
"I asked what's the only thing worse than losing your child?"
Bogo was at a loss for words as he stood in silence. Even Judy was having difficulty figuring out what Nick meant by the question.
"To have your child returned to you, and then taken away..."
Bogo blinked with confusion while trying to make sense of Nick's statement.
"Wilde, what on Earth are you talking about?"
"Their child is back, but he's not what he used to be. What they have now may look like their cub, but he's nothing more than a shell of what used to be. The Marcus they knew and loved is gone, replaced by a monster in his body.
The mother and father still sat on the floor, holding each other closely. The father stole a quick glance at his son, who only hissed in response.
"At least if he was dead, there would have been closure. The parents thought they had their little boy back, but the old Marcus is gone. Their baby is gone, but his physical form is still here to torture them."
Without another word from anyone, the two of them left the station.
Judy sat in silence as Nick drove home. In all honestly, Judy could not bring herself to talk to him about anything that had transpired at the station. She kept telling herself that what Nick had said was disturbed beyond belief, but she knew, deep down inside, that he was right. Whoever the kidnapper was, he was likely going to do this with all the missing mammals. He would brainwash them into hating their parents, and then leave them as a tortuous reminder of what used to be.
Judy turned to face Nick, and now found his mouth in a frown. She hadn't seen him genuinely angry since the Night Howler case. In all honesty, it scared her. The fox who she saw as unable to show anger was gone. Whatever had replaced the Nick she knew, she hoped it was not permanent.
Nick unlocked the door to their apartment with force, causing the door to slam into the wall, leaving a small hole. Nick uttered a low growl at the thought of having to make a repair tomorrow. He tossed the car keys onto the kitchen counter, causing them to rattle around and slide across until they fell over the edge. Nick let out another growl as he stormed over to the fridge and threw the door open. Without so much as reading any of the labels, he pulled a random bottle of wine out. Bearing his teeth, Nick bit down on the cork and ripped it out. He spit it onto the floor and wrapped his lips around the neck, taking a few large gulps from the bottle.
As Nick swallowed down the wine, Judy slowly creeped in from the hallway and shut the door behind her. Her ears were pressed down flat against the back of her head, her lower lip slightly trembling as she watched the most important mammal in her life starting to slowly lose control of himself.
"Nick… I'm not sure if this is the best way to be dealing with this. I think we just need to sit down, cool down for a second, and talk this over."
Nick lowered the bottle from his lips, the dark contents sloshing around the inside. He shot her an aggravated glare, causing Judy to shrink back even further.
"What good is talking this over going to do us? All you ever want to do is talk. There's only so much that words can do. In case you haven't noticed, this is far beyond the help of one of your pity talks."
Lifting the bottle to his lips once more, Nick gulped down more of it. Judy watched as the dark liquid swirled around in the bottle before entering his muzzle. Soon enough, the bottle became empty. Nick stared at the empty bottle before tossing it into the trash can. It bounced around the lip before teetering over and falling onto the floor. It shattered into multiple pieces, causing glass shards to scatter all over the floor and underneath the cabinets.
"Shit," Nick mumbled under his breath as he went to the refrigerator to grab another bottle.
"Nick, stop it! This is not the proper way to deal with this!"
Nick ignored Judy's pleas as he pulled a second bottle and bit out the cork like the first time. Spitting it out onto the floor, he walked into the living room as he swallowed nearly half the bottle in one go. Judy followed close behind, a look of worry taking over her entire face.
"Please, Nick! I know this isn't who you are. We need to sit down and talk this over like we always have. I know that right now, you don't think it'll do any good, but believe me that it will."
Judy reached out to place a paw on Nick's shoulder, causing him to turn around. He swatted it away, causing Judy to retract quickly and flinch with fear. Nick let out a low growl as he returned to drinking straight from the bottle. As he drank, some escaped the corners of his lips, causing it to drip down the beige fur of his neck. He did not seem to notice, continuing to drink in a sloppy manner while the red liquid began to soak into the collar of his uniform.
"There's nothing talking can do to fix something this bad. I'm not going to be able to sleep at night knowing that these kids are being abducted and turned into mindless shells of their former selves with the sole intention of hating their parents. I can't take this anymore!"
Nick drank more, but soon emptied the bottle of its contents. Glancing at the peeling label with aggravation, he let out a scream of irritation. He threw it on the floor, causing even more glass to scatter around the apartment. Judy stepped back as a few pieces slid across the floor in her direction.
"This is the first possibility of a lead that we've had in months, and all that came of it was nothing more than a mother with a permanent scar and a child that hates her and the father. Hell, if I had a kid and he ended up doing nothing more than hating me the rest of my life, I would wish they were dead! I would rather them die loving me then spend the rest of their life wanting me to fall in front of a bus."
Judy had rarely heard Nick raise his voice, and the anger and frustration he carried in his tone made her fur stand on end. The only time she had ever seen this much anger in him was when he pulled his claws out and bared his teeth when they were in the ZPD and she pulled fox repellent on him. This was not the fox she knew, and it was starting to bring Judy to tears.
"Nick… all I'm asking is that you listen to me. There's nothing more that I want. I'm trying to do this for your own good."
Judy tried once more to place a paw on his shoulder, but Nick only shrank back.
"Don't touch me," Nick said with the scent of expensive wine floating on his breath. He fumbled backwards a little bit, causing him to almost lose his balance. He managed to catch the arm of the sofa and correct himself.
"You know I only want what's best for you…"
She reached out her paw once more. This caused Nick to show his fangs. Unknown to Judy, Nick held his paws at his side as he extended his claws out.
"I said… don't… TOUCH ME!"
In the blink of an eye, Nick swung his arm, causing Judy to fall backwards onto the floor. As her small frame collapsed onto the hardwood floor amongst the pieces of broken glass, Nick froze with his paw in midair, claws still extended. Judy gasped before letting out a small squeal and slowly putting a paw against her cheek. Nick suddenly snapped back to reality and looked over at his paws still raised in midair. Illuminated in the lights of the city coming in through the window of the apartment, Nick watched a dark crimson fluid dripping from his extended claws. He looked over to see the same liquid staining the gray fur of Judy's face. As she slowly pulled her paw back, Nick could see it was deep. He had managed to cut all the way down to the flesh.
"Oh my God… Nick… how could you…"
Judy was barely able to muster the sentence as her body began to contract from her sporadic breathing. Nick locked eyes with her, and he could see tears welling in the corners of her eyes and streaming down her face.
"…What have I done…"
Edited by Jack_NWH
