A/N What do you mean the chapter's a month late? Do you have any idea how difficult it is to smuggle a chapter out of Rapture with nothing but a bottle? I got it out on time, it's not my fault it arrived a month late!
...what do you mean, if I sent it on time, how do I know it's late?
Uhh...
ON WITH THE SHOW!
When Judy was a little kit, her parents had had a set of crystal glasses. They had been gifted to her parents on their wedding day, and were only brought out on special occasions. One such occasion was the announced engagement of on of Judy's sisters – which one, Judy couldn't recall. What she could recall was the moment when one of them had shattered.
As was per usual amongst Bunnyburrow citizens, groups of children were chosen to clean dinner dishes each night. That night, Judy had been amongst said chosen group. Judy had always had a certain interest in said crystal glasses; the care, the intricacy with which they were crafted, the way they reflected and refracted light through their many angles, casting rainbows across whichever surface they landed upon.
Unfortunately for Judy, the night which she was tasked to clean said glasses was also the night she broke one of them.
It was an accident, to be certain, one for which she was forgiven, but nevertheless the moment was seared into the young does mind. Drying one of the glasses, Judy had been momentarily distracted by some sight outside of the window to the kitchen – again, she couldn't recall what it had been, only enough to know that it had caused her grip on the crystal glass to loosen slightly. Slipping from her grip, the glass had turned in the air, seemingly caught by time itself, turning and tumbling, giving the sole viewer one last glimpse of it in its whole condition before colliding with the ground, whereupon it shattered into dozens of pieces.
Upset as they were upon the discovery that one of their prized glasses had been destroyed, Judy's parents were understandably upset, but also understanding, knowing the fact that it had been an accident, not an act of malicious intent.
Judy, the young naïve doe that she had been at the time, hadn't understood why the glass couldn't be repaired, but try as she had, no matter how the pieces were re-arranged, fitted back as they should be, the glass wouldn't return to it's original form.
Now, in the submarine environment of Zootopia, Judy was reminded of her earlier futile attempts to repair that which was irreplaceably lost, by her relations with Nick.
Shattered beyond belief was the friendship she'd once held with said fox, so the doe believed. She'd tried to reconcile with Nick, tell the tod what she'd actually meant as opposed to what he'd received it as, but the fox had twisted her words in ways that she'd never intended, turning her to an irredeemable villain. For her part, Judy had collapsed in the hospital lobby as the world itself collapsed upon her – her partner, the one mammal in Zootopia she knew she could trust, had in turn found his trust in her betrayed. Her friends, her band-mates had been torn asunder – Cam was institutionalized for who knew how long, Mac had difficulty recalling who she was, Leo was constrained to the hospital for an absurdly long amount of time, whereas Matt was who-knew-where in Zootopia until the band could be once again reformed.
Cast adrift, Judy had no-one to turn to but herself… A fact that was reminded to her with a moment of lucid clarity as though she had been struck by a lighting bolt when she'd heard an innocuous advertisement piped over the P.A. system.
"Ladies, you love your man, but can you trust him? When he's away, do you ever wonder what he's up to? He promised to come home early, but is he at the bar with the boys, or is he with someone new? With Scout, by Aperture Science, you'll always be in the know!"
She had no-one to trust but herself… So why not double her potential through plasmids?
Judy glanced nervously down at the mouse perched on her arm. A small patch of her own grey fur had already been shaved off in the nook of her elbow, and the nurse was in the process of cleaning the bare patch of skin with an alcoholic wipe.
"Everything's going to be just fine, Miss Hopps," Judy's attention was wrenched to the elk garbed in medical gown and mask as he spoke in a calming tone, observing the nurse as she did her work. "If it makes you feel any better, I've administered this particular plasmid to dozens of patients in the past few months, and all of them have come through just fine, with no complaints aside from one case of superficial bruising." That should have made Judy feel better – while others may have been thrown off by the doctor's admission of fault, it reassured the doe to the elk's honesty and sincerity. However, the way her monitored heart rate was beating away told a different story. "It's not too late to back out; there's no shame in staying the way nature made you."
But to Judy, there was shame in backing out. She'd read the information packet about the plasmid 'Scout', and undoubtedly it would prove invaluable to her in her career, especially now that she was without a partner. Just thinking of how she and Nick had left off sobered the doe up, the mechanical beeping settling back down as she focussed on something other than the impending operation. "No, thank you; I'm good to go on." As the nurse on her arm nodded to the doctor and scurried across the straps binding her to the chair, Judy couldn't help but speak up again. "Are the restraints really necessary, though?"
The doctor had moved from the young doe's line of sight, but could still be heard. "Standard policy. One that we've found to be… prudent." The elk stepped back into view, holding a small plastic mask sized for mammals Judy's size. "The body occasionally reacts harshly as… Well, as would be expected, seeing as it's having its genetic code re-written. There were a few unfortunate incidents after plasmids were released-" Eyes widening as he registered the increase in heartrate, the doctor quickly clarified. "Nothing to do with the plasmids themselves went wrong, merely environmental hazards – construction work, one mammal accidentally set half a restaurant on fire when they took 'Incinerate' and the backlash hit the bar, and not to mention the poor buck who thought taking 'Electro-bolt' while standing on a balcony was a good idea!" Blinking as he came back to the present, the elk saw that his assurances had done nothing to calm the rabbit down. A look of self-disappointment could be seen, even behind his mask. "…and this is why I'm a doctor, not a salesman. Are you still certain you want to go through with the procedure?"
Not even the doctors less-than-helpful ramblings could dissuade Judy from her course, though. Taking one last deep breath in an effort to calm herself, the doe nodded. "Yes," she reiterated aloud, though it was more for herself than the medical staff.
"Excellent! Now, if you'll just tilt your head forward slightly…" The doctor affixed the clear mask over Judy's muzzle and reached behind the chair to where a tube from said mask led. "If you'll just count backwards from one hundred for me, Miss Hopps?"
Judy nodded as she heard a slight hissing fill the room. "One hundred, ninety nine, ninety eight-" The last conscious thought the doe had was about the taste of the air in the mask. Lemony.
There are lots of things which could be described as an 'out-of-body' experience. There had been times when Judy had been walking along down a street and suddenly felt like she was something else inside her own head, watching through what should have been her eyes as her body walked along without her directions. Other times, a sense of déjà vu washed over her, and Judy could swear that she was watching what had already happened directly in front of her, and more eerily herself, from a few steps to the side. The most common sense of being out of her body was also the most mundane – thinking back to the dreams she could remember, Judy couldn't ever recall having one that wasn't third person, like she was watching actors in a movie, and the was the camera following them about.
Despite all of the similar experiences she'd had, Judy had never had one that left her feeling like she was being catapulted out of her own body.
At least, not until the plasmid hit her blood stream.
Judy had no idea how long she'd actually been unconscious from the anesthetic, but when she'd regained awareness of her surroundings the effect was immediate. She lurched forward in the chair, and while the restraints kept her body secured, somehow Judy herself kept going. Stumbling forward on feet that weren't there and didn't even feel like they were there, Judy momentarily panicked at the sudden violence of the sudden ejection of her consciousness from her own body. Am I dead? Judy slapped herself at the thought… Or at least, tried to. She didn't have hands or a face that she could tell, but that fact didn't diminish her disappointment in herself. I just got spliced with 'Scout' – this must be one of the reactions Doctor Stein was talking about. Indeed, as she turned to observe the room, she saw her own body still secured in the chair, and despite how lifeless it looked, the heartrate monitor was still beeping steadily. That, and the fact that the doctor wasn't frantically trying to resuscitate her, assured the doe that she had not, in fact, died to the procedure.
"Miss Hopps?" The elk looked about the room, apparently incapable of seeing the incorporeal doe, or hearing her, though both were to be expected, as Judy could neither see nor hear herself either. Despite receiving no response from the doe, the elk continued. "What you're experiencing right now is quite the normal response after being injected by this particular plasmid – in essence, your body's genetic code is evolving at an incredibly accelerated rate. As such, the plasmid's ability is going a bit 'haywire' for a lack of a better term – until your body has had a chance to fully adapt to it's new change, you won't have control over the plasmid's abilities; hence why you're currently unable to 'return' to your body." Noting the spike in heart rate, the doctor made soothing patting motions towards the window to Judy's left. "No need to fear, the average length of the process is between five to eight minutes; there was one time when we thought it went considerably longer, but it turns out the fellow had just fallen asleep." The doctor shook his head, chuckling. "Bears in winter, what can I say? They'll sleep through anything." Sighing with a smile, the doctor continued monologuing at the window, which for convenience sake Judy had repositioned herself in front of. "As for the plasmid's abilities, you aren't able to physically interact with most objects, as you don't have a physical form to interact with. However, you do still technically have a form. The easiest, if also slightly flawed, way to describe it is that your nervous system is now outside of your body, as opposed to inside, as it normally is. Since your nervous system uses small amounts of electricity to pass information along your body, you are able to… channel your electricity and interact with other electrical devices, such as light switches, radios, door panels, and so forth."
Although she'd already read this information before, Judy was grateful to have the doctor reiterate it for her, as reading about an abstract concept was much different from experiencing it first-paw. Hesitantly, Judy 'stepped' over to a cart with an array of medical equipment on it. It still 'felt' like she had a body to move, just one that she couldn't 'feel'. She tried willing herself to move, but nothing happened unless she tried to walk as she would normally. Also, just as the doctor had said, despite her best efforts, she couldn't even make one of the medical gloves move from its resting place on the cart. This is so weird… Leaving the medical cart, Judy made her way past the doctor to the light switch on the wall.
"Yes, I can imagine it's quite fun," the elk chuckled as the lights in the room flickered on and off repeatedly.
A strange feeling overcame the doe, drawing her attention from her admittedly juvenile activity. A feeling of gravity overtook her, but instead of pulling her down, it instead tugged her backwards. Before she had a chance to contemplate this new phenomenon, the world around her blurred, and she lurched forward with a gasp, straining against the chairs restraints.
"Welcome back, Miss Hopps," the doctor smiled down at the shuddering doe as he worked on loosening the cuffs. "Any questions?"
Judy was giddy as she danced across the checkerboard-patterned tiles of the medical center… Ecstatic, even! She wasn't sure if it was the lingering effects of the new plasmid coursing through her veins, or the newfound sense of inner strength and independence that came along with it, but the doe felt incredible, invigorated, invincible! The fact that she needed a cane barely registered as she practically floated through the lobby, nodding to mammals as she passed, and she was able to shrug off the irritation of hearing said mammals laughing comments about the 'cute little bunny…' Mostly. Her feet did feel the gravity of the earth as she passed through the lobby doors into Zootopia proper, and her beaming grin faded to something much more subdued. It was still there, but a mammal would have needed to be paying close attention to the doe to notice it.
Her grin continued to fade as she made her way along the streets of the subaquatic city. With her 'official' commitments at the Morpheus put on hold after last nights events, the young doe had thought it pertinent to search for her missing jewelry at the pawn shops she knew of before visiting the Plasmid center. True, she may not know as much about the city's unfortunately seedy underbelly as a certain fox, the thought of whom made her remaining smile fade into a slight grimace, but she'd seen a few such shops both in her wanderings and during her time in the Warrens. None of her efforts turned up any results, aside from a few comments about a shady looking fox who'd been by searching for the same pieces.
Passing by one of the bathysphere stations, Judy's grimace grew more pronounced. All bathysphere travel was still 'Closed until further notice', a fact that had more than a few residents upset, as could regularly be seen by protestors outside said stations throughout the city. As with so many other of her fellow residents, Judy found herself slowly turning a blind eye to the disgruntled mob; it wasn't that she didn't share their plight, but shaking signs and angrily yelling at the air wasn't going to change anything – that, and unlike the elephant who was currently trumpeting his opinions, she didn't believe the dream of Zootopia to be dead, merely… slow to shrug off the long-enforced shackles of surface ideology.
Judy was abruptly shaken from her rather somber musings as she rebounded off a soft, fleshy wall that let out an 'Oof!' which the doe echoed, landing on her rump. "Oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Not bothering to rise any higher than her knees, Judy began hastily gathering up the foodstuffs which had rolled from the other mammal's bag. "I should have been watching where I was going, I've just been so scattered today." Picking up the last Danish, Judy furtively brushed it off before sheepishly handing it over to the other mammal, getting a look at her accidental victim for the first time. "Lola!?"
"Hmm?" The lynx's gaze briefly skipped up to meet that of her employer before dropping back as she continued to return her groceries to her bag. "Oh, hello Miss Hopps. How's the case?"
A bit thrown off by the other mammal's surprisingly cool tone, Judy shrugged it off – anyone had a right to be a bit put off upon having their food dumped on the ground because of another mammal's absent-mindedness, be they friend and co-worker or not. "Oh, it's going just…!" Judy's stock cheerful response trailed off as she thought about the state of the case and those involved in it. Half of the initial suspects had been ruled out, and she had a strong inkling as to who the culprit was, but with the rift between her and Nick, her friends hospitalized, institutionalized, or just vanished, and a portion of the resort closed for the foreseeable future… "Fine." True, most of that hadn't been because of her or her involvement in the case whatsoever, but it still stung to remember. "Just as well as could be expected, given the circumstances." The doe gave a smile that even she knew looked rather grim. "We should have it all wrapped up in the next couple of days or so." Looking down briefly at her paws clasped before her, Judy frowned, considering who she was talking to, eyes quickly darting back up to meet the light-blue ones of her secretary. "How have you been? I should've checked up on you and the office sooner."
It was subtle, but Judy noticed the lynx's fur bristle slightly at the question. "I'm fine, thanks. Haven't burned down the office, so don't worry about that." Shimmying the bag to the nook of her elbow, Lola began counting off on her fingers. "Office has been tidied, payments… collected, paperwork's been finished and filed, had a look through your old case files, and new clients have been turned away with 'our apologies, but both of our detectives are currently busy on another case!'"
Judy stifled a laugh the lynx's faux peppy cheer face she put on at the end. "Well, it certainly sounds like you've been keeping busy!"
The silence that followed dragged well into the point where it could be considered uncomfortable. Judy was almost at the point of excusing herself when Lola broke the quiet once more. "What happened to your arm?"
Glancing down, Judy noticed that the way her arms were positioned, the bare patch where she'd been injected was on display to the whole world. Self-consciously turning her arm inwards, Judy smiled sheepishly as the lynx raised an eyebrow at the maneuver. "I finally joined the masses. Just spliced for the first time." Fighting the urge to shrink under the feline's unwavering gaze, the doe shrugged. "I figured it would help with the job."
A notable beat of silence fell before the lynx responded. "I see." Pointedly looking at the wall-mounted clock over the bathysphere station, Lola curtly nodded to her employer. "Well, it was unexpected running into you, but I really must be on my way."
"Yea- sure! Sure thing. Good seeing you!" By the time her words were in the air, though, Judy found herself talking at the retreating back of the feline. Turning to glance at the timepiece as well, Judy's eyes widened. "Oh, shoot!"
This time, the doe was much more conscientious of her surroundings as she bounded down Zootopia's grand halls.
Returning to the Morpheus in record time, Judy found the resort's lobby to be mostly empty – not surprising, considering it was at a time of day where most mammals would either be at work or out for lunch, and seeing the state of the resorts restaurant… Fortunately, the lack of patrons allowed the doe almost instant access to the elevator. Tapping her foot idly in time with the elevator music, Judy took the time to once again run through the list of suspects she'd received from Mr. Litsen… Rister… Whatever the security wolf's name had been.
Let's see… Otto Kringelein, Elizabeth Concol, Herman Preysing, Anton Neer, Lord Arnway, 'Baron Barrelsmith', Inspector Carmelita, and Constable Neyla. Nick's fairly certain that we can rule out Otto and Anton, and his reasoning's sound, and both Herman and Elizabeth would have been too large to fit through the vents. The fur I found in the vents had to have come from our suspect, but all I saw of it was that it had two distinct colours to it- that could be Carmelita, Neyla, Sly, OR Connor. Disregarding the tempo of the music, Judy's foot beat faster as she frowned at the closed doors of the elevator. Connor's a noble, so wouldn't need the money… That, and he's running charity's in the Warrens. Unless he opened orphanages as well, I doubt he could be any less likely to be the type to resort to thievery. Fortunately, the quality of materials used in the construction of the Morpheus was on par with everything else in Hermes' Heights; had it been any less durable, the floor likely would have cracked under the thumping of Judy's foot as her train of thought continued. My gut instinct still says it's Sly, but both Carmelita and Neyla apparently have motive, fit the build needed to go through the vents, and as of yet don't have an alibi.
The grinding of Judy's teeth was so loud that the antelope getting on the lift turned to stare at the doe as she got off. So lost in thought had she been, it wasn't until Judy idly glanced at one of the passing door's number that she realized she'd gotten off on the wrong floor. "Aw, cheese and crackers!"Spinning on her heel, she couldn't help stamping her foot in frustration as the doors slid closed.
"Is everything alright, Miss… Hopps, wasn't it?" The unexpected, suave voice behind her sent Judy spinning again. Spotting the 'Baron,' Judy frowned, initially distrusting concerned façade, then in confusion as she caught sight of the room number on the door as it slowly swung closed behind him. Cooper's room number's 314 – 'easy as pie.' What's he doing in number 325?
Returning her attention to the raccoon, Judy gave her best sickly grin as she held a paw up to her temple. "Yes, I'm just… I'm feeling a bit –" And then Judy took a step out of her body. It was strange, Judy could still feel her body behind her as it collapsed lifelessly in the hall, but she ignored the sensation as her 'Scout' slipped past the startled raccoon. She heard 'Barrowsmith' cry out her name, but the noise in the hallway was promptly muffled as the door shut behind Judy.
The room within was much larger and nicer than Judy's – not surprising, the doe supposed, seeing as she was staying in staff quarters. A quick glance about the main room showed nothing out of the ordinary – books still all on the shelves, cushions undisturbed on the seats, television, radio, and paintings still in place… No sign that the room had been ransacked or robbed.
Judy's attention was drawn by a voice emanating from one of the side rooms. Fortunately, the door was open enough for the ethereal doe to slip through into what turned out to be the bedroom beyond.
"Where is it?" The elderly schnauzer within slurred, stumbling slightly as he got up from checking underneath his bed. Judy silently watched as the canine frowned, patting his pockets before shaking his head. Is he ever sober? The doe wondered as Kringelein staggered over to the bedside table, rifling the drawers. What are you looking for?
As the inebriated guest's searches dragged on, Judy began worrying that her ghostly investigations might turn up nothing before the plasmid's power returned her to her body, but the doe breathed an inaudible thanks to Serendipity when Kringelein finally revealed what he'd been searching for. "My pocketbook, where's my pocketbook? It's got all my money! My winnings, my savings!" The canine slumped down on to his bed, mustache quivering. "It's got my burial insurance."
Judy felt a pang of sadness at Kringelein's plight, but it was quickly pushed away by a righteous indignation, strengthening her resolve. That raccoon's going to pay!
Having her consciousness snap back to her body was no easier the second time than it was the first, no matter the fact that she initiated it this time. Judy's body bucked forward with a gasping breath, the doe absently noting that 'Lord Barrowsmith' had been kneeling over her, only just getting out of the way as Judy's body surged back to life. Also, his jacket was oddly absent, but as she collapsed back to the floor, Judy felt just a touch grateful for the raccoon, as he'd apparently used it to cushion her 'unconscious' head.
"Miss Hopps!" The raccoon did an excellent job of looking relieved while still a touch concerned, Judy had to give him that much. Turning his attention from the downed doe, 'Barrowsmith' called down the hallway, "Carmelita, she's conscious!"
Turning her head away from the raccoon, Judy saw a familiar vixen's sprint come to an abrupt halt before turning back to the pair in the middle of the hallway. Judy's keen ears picked up the Inspector muttering a quick 'Oh, thank goodness,' but Judy had already turned her attention back to the raccoon watching over her. Giving him an inconspicuous once-over, Judy frowned - with the cut of his clothes, it was readily apparent that he didn't have any pocketbook on his person. But that doesn't mean he didn't taken it…
"I'm… what? What happened?" Blinking rapidly and holding a paw to her head, Judy mentally thanked all of her old drama teachers as she 'struggled' to sit up, brushing off the raccoon's paws as he tried to keep her laying down.
"I don't think you should be moving…" Having several attempts of his to keep the doe down thwarted by her persistence, 'Barrowsmith' gave up with a huff. "On your own head be it…" Shaking his own with a chuckle, he sat back on his heels. "As to what happened, I couldn't really tell you, I'm afraid. I came out into the hallway to find you standing here, looking rather disoriented, before dropping unconscious. When I couldn't wake you, I was about to go for help, but fortunately for us, Miss Montoya happened along, and offered her services instead."
The fox in question had returned, not even slightly out of breath from her short sprints. "Miss Hopps! Are you alright?"
"Yes, just a bit… light headed…" Mind racing, Judy latched onto the first plausible excuse she could think of as she pushed herself to her feet. "With all the excitement since yesterday, I don't think I've had more to eat than a piece of toast in the last two days!" A bold faced lie – at the Plasmid center, the nurses had seemed willing to tie their patients down to their chairs to ensure they had at least something to eat and drink, as though there platters of sweets weren't tempting enough, and Judy took pride in ensuring she always had at a bare minimum two square meals each day, no matter the circumstances. Fortunately, the story was plausible enough that her two 'caretakers' seemed to buy it. "Thank you for your help, but I think I should be fine… Oops!"
After successfully regaining her feet, Judy had picked up 'Barrowsmith's' jacket, furtively patting at the pockets. Finding one with an odd bulge, she'd 'accidentally' upended it as she handed the article back to it's owner, spilling the pocketbook onto the floor. Judy's heart skipped a beat at the sight of it, but she forced herself to not leap to arresting the raccoon immediately. It might be his, after all…
"Sorry," Judy continued, kneeling down, "Let me get that for you!" Ignoring the raccoon's protests as she grabbed the front cover of the pocketbook, Judy suppressed a smirk as the cover dropped open. Oops. Peering inside, all pretenses of her clumsiness and illness faded as she saw the card inside the cover. "Property of Otto Kringelein?"
"I can explain!"
"I'm sure you can." Glaring at the cornered raccoon, Judy felt a bubble of satisfaction rise in her chest as the commotion in the hallway had other mammals roomed on the floor poking their heads out of their rooms. Always loved a captive audience! "Sly Cooper," she intoned as she pulled out her set of pawcuffs, "You're under arrest for so many counts of theft!"
"What?" Carmelita breathed, while Sly stared in shock at the pawcuffs.
"Where did you even pull those from?"
Ignoring the raccoon, Judy chose to answer Carmelita's question. "He's no Baron, he's not even a Barrelsmith! He's Sly Cooper, and he's nothing more than a hotel thief."
Several things happened at once.
Carmelita let out a disappointed sigh.
Sly gave Judy a look of confusion, denial, regret, and resignation.
From down the hall, the great brown bear Preysing bellowed incredulously, "It was you?!"
Time sped up as chaos followed. Sly turned to Carmelita with a look of bemused sadness. "We'll have to have that dance at a later date, I suppose," he said, before ducking in to peck the confused Inspector on the cheek. The vixen's expression turned from confused, to shocked, to angered, as her paw crackled with electricity. A loud cracking sound exploded down the hallway as the raccoon disappeared into a puff of blue confetti, but Judy hardly noticed the thief's disappearance as her world was overtaken by pain. The last thing she heard before she fainted was a nearby door opening, and a slurring voice calling out.
"Has anyone seen the Baron? I forgot I asked him to look after my pocketbook for me!"
For the second time in as many days, Judy had found herself walking out of the hospital, alone. On top of the cane she'd been prescribed during her last visit, the doe now also had to have one of her arms immobilized in a sling for the next while.
Using her 'keen detective skills' that were otherwise known as 'asking people', she'd found out what had occurred in the hallway after she'd blacked out from pain. Preysing had been another victim of the hotel thief, and upon hearing Judy's proclamation that Sly was said thief, decided to take a furious justice into his own paws. Despite the fact that firearms were illegal in Zootopia, the ursine contractor had managed to get his paws on one, and shot at the alleged thief, just as said raccoon had Teleported away. The bullet had passed through the space where Sly was, and instead struck Judy. Carmelita had been quick to turn her anger onto the bear, incapacitating him with a jolt of Electrobolt.
It wasn't the violent aftermath of her announcement that disturbed Judy the most, nor the fact that her prime suspect had quite literally disappeared into thin air. What hurt her the most was the fact that she had been wrong. Sly hadn't stolen the schnauzer's wallet, he'd been given it to look after, and had had a reliable alibi during the time that Preysing was robbed. On top of that, hotel security had gone through his room with a fine-toothed comb, and come up with nothing. Given his quick exit, the raccoon wouldn't have had time to return to his room, so that led credence to the fact that the hotel thief wasn't the raccoon. On top of everything else, her very public attempt to arrest Sly, and the reasons for why she was doing it, had led to the fact that there was a thief loose in the hotel very public knowledge, and now guests and staff alike were pointing fingers at pretty much anyone who moved. Ritsenhowler had made it exceedingly well known how disappointed he was with just how much she'd bungled the case – upon returning to the Morpheus, the security chief had apprehended her in the middle of the lobby, yelling at the doe as she struggled not to break down and cry right there and then. He'd seemed surprised by her reaction initially, but had quickly hardened back up, reaming into her and demanding she vacate the hotel before the end of the day.
Judy found herself wandering the hotel's halls in an absent daze – her room had had very few of her possessions to clear out, and with Nick still conspicuously absent, the doe had little reason to stick around there for long. I should go, she thought to herself several times, but there was something… She was supposed to… she just couldn't… How did it all go so wrong? She just couldn't figure it out. Again, she found herself running through the initial list of suspects, even though she was now, very publicly, off the case. Preysing had been a victim of the thief, and was far too large to fit through the vents, as was Miss Concol. Sly was apparently not the thief, and neither could Kringelein or Neer be. Neyla was still locked up in the hospital, and Judy had seen Arnway there as well, even ignoring the fact that the noble had no apparent motive. That only left Carmelita, but for the life of her, Judy couldn't imagine the inspector being behind all these crimes. And the band…! …the band… Maybe I forgot something in the band room?
Her entire trip back to the main floor and through the hobby left the doe surrounded by a bubble of uncomfortable silence. Conversations cut off mid-sentence as mammals, both staff and guests alike, caught sight of the doe who'd turned their luxurious lives on their heads. It was at times like these that Judy cursed her gifted hearing capabilities; no matter how hushed the whispers, she could easily make out the hateful remarks, the comments of 'what's she doing here', 'the nerve of her, showing her face!', and more commonly, 'what did they expect, hiring some dumb bunny?'
Judy couldn't even muster her usual ire at the last one.
The silence that the doe stepped into upon entering the staff quarters was initially more comforting – rather than a silence made noticeable by the sudden void where a sound used to be, the silence the doe found herself in now was one more natural, a silence made by a lack of life to make noise. As she worked her way through the twisting corridors, though, the initial comfort of the new silence faded, replaced by the heavy weight of the knowledge of why this silence was here. With the restaurant reduced to little more than kindling and the kitchen a torched ruin, these quarters had no need to be filled – no room for guests meant no guests. No guests meant no food service to the dining room. No kitchen meant no room service. No room service meant no staff running out meals and returning with plates. How many of the staff had to be laid off? Despite the knowledge that they'd likely be hired back on as soon as the services were restored, a pang of empathy ran through the doe, having known intimately the oppressive weight of worry for the next paycheck, the wondering if there'd be enough money for the next meal, having to resort to working for conniving little weasels like Alex…
The thought that there were even mammals like Alex, so quick to make a profit off the misfortune of others and turn places like the Warren into their own little playground, normally would have had the young doe seething, but Judy found herself incapable of anger, not after her outburst at what turned out to be an innocent raccoon barely a couple of hours earlier.
A despondent sigh found its way past Judy's lips as the door to the band room clicked closed behind her. In her mind, she knew that it had barely been a day since the room had last been used, but it already felt deserted, like it had been years since the band had been reunited here, happy and whole again.
Judy frowned, memories filled with laughter and joy jarring to a halt. Those times hadn't happened like that – even from the beginning, there had been tension amongst the band members. Not just Cam and whatever issues he had been dealing with… Actively remembering the past, rather than letting it passively tell her all had been well, Judy could recall all the little things that had been… off. How Mac's eyes had been bloodshot, he'd had difficulty focussing on matters at hand, how Matt had been quiet, even more so than normal, and despondently listless, how Leo had had bags under his eyes, and his fur, starting to go thin from incessantly running his paws through it… Things in the Warren hadn't been better, not by a long shot, but in some ways, they had been. Gritting her teeth, Judy supressed the growl that was growing in her chest. Why did nothing in Zootopia make sense? Why was everything going wrong? Why couldn't she do anything about it?!
A sharp pain brought Judy out of her musings. Staring down at her trembling, pulsing fist, the doe frowned, unconscious of forming it, or smashing the now aching appendage against the wall. Shaking her head with another sigh, she focussed on unfurling her paw, and breathing. In, one… two… three… Out, one… two… three…
After several repetitions, Judy felt her bubbling anger simmer back down, leaving a hollowness where, as though the doe was detached from the world, an observer of an uninteresting landscape. Quickly retrieving her dropped cane, Judy glanced about the room, and saw what she'd already known would be the case – nothing of hers had been left here. It was just like the Morpheus, just like Zootopia… "There's nothing left for me here."
Except… glancing to the side, a hint of a smile formed on Judy's face. Crossing the room, she went out the only other exit, setting foot on the stage once more.
The setting seemed right for her, fitting the doe like it had been built just for her. She could still see the beauty in the room, in the architecture, in the furnishings, in the memories that she held of the space, but like her hopes for her life Zootopia the beauty had faded. The walls and ceiling around the kitchen door were coated in soot, much of the furniture and glassware had been smashed in the chaotic panic, leaving shards and splinters intermingled with still-thick blood stains. In the rush of the moment, nothing had been cleaned or cleared away, as evidenced by the half-eaten meals, discarded jackets… even the instruments were still in their places, excepting the piano, with their owner's hospital-bound or… elsewhere.
And oddly enough, she wasn't alone.
"How delightful, I have a guest." Sitting at one of the few intact tables, Carmelita sat, a left-over tart perched in her fingers. Taking a bite from it, the vixen looked as at ease as though the events of the past day had never transpired.
"Carmelita!" Judy hadn't been expecting to find anyone else here, but she wasn't about to turn away the company – a friendly face was just what the young doe felt like she needed at the moment.
Fixing the bunny on stage with a glare palpable from across the room, the inspector tossed the rest of the treat into her mouth. "The only thing is, I've developed a recent distaste to unexpected guests." Turning her attention to her paw, Carmelita licked the leftover juices from her fingers. Task finished, she gaze flickered back to Judy. "Although, I suppose I owe you my thanks."
All Judy could muster was a quiet "Oh?" Yet another 'friend' turned against you, the insidious voice inside her head rose from its slumber, only to be half-heartedly shushed by Judy. It might not be that bad… she supposed, as she leadenly made her way to the stairs at the side of the stage.
The voice only chuckled darkly as the inspector spoke up.
"Why yes!" The vixen spoke with a sickeningly sweet tone, "With all the free time I now find myself with, I can do all the things I never had time for! Savour the delicacies," her paw swept over the ground around her, "appreciate the music," her gaze flickered briefly to the remains of the piano, "enjoy the fine company."
Judy's steps faltered upon hearing the venom in the inspector's voice, but she pressed on, cane clacking as she gradually approached the vixen. "How's any of this," she looked at the room around her, "my fault?"
"Oh, no, this here's just par for the course down here in Zootopia! Haven't you heard? City security's run by some blind hussy who couldn't even tell that her neighbour was the thief she's been pursuing for her entire career!" Gripping the edge of the table, Carmelita pushed back, not even reacting as the chair she had been sitting on toppled. "Thanks to your lovely reveal this afternoon, I'm now the laughing stock of the entire city."
"I'm sure it's not… that bad?"
"No?" Carmelita's expression contorted in anger as she closed the distance between her and the doe. "No? Tell me, which is worse? The thought that I was ignorant of Coopers presence, that I willingly turned a blind eye to his presence, or the fact that when there's a string of robberies where I, the head of security for the city, live, that I'm not even told?!"
"I couldn't tell you, you were a suspect!" Once more, Judy wished she had the ability to take back the words that she had just spoken. Contrary to the outburst she expected from the vixen before her, however, Carmelita was eerily calm as she took in the words.
"Of course." Voice as cold and mysterious as the ocean, the fox turned from the rabbit, sighing as she righted her toppled chair. She muttered something in a language that Judy couldn't understand, before switching back. "I can't wait to hear that one when it reaches the streets."
"What was I supposed to do?" Judy's voice grew in volume as the cold void left her, once more filling with righteous anger. "Ignore the facts? Say, 'Oh, it can't be her, because we're friends'?"
Carmelita's tail tore through the air, expressing her anger if there had been any doubt after hearing her voice. "Of course not, I would have expected you to do your job!"
"Which I did!" A spike of fury erupted within Judy as the inspector snorted at her statement. "I was hired to find the thief in the resort, the one who, by your own admission, was hiding under your nose the entire time! I found him, I arrested him!"
"For all the good it did!" Carmelita retorted. "He got away, the resort's in an uproar, and he was the wrong thief!" Clenching her eyes shut, Carmelita gripped the edge of the table as she visibly tried to calm herself down. "I think," she managed to hiss out from between her clenched teeth, "it would be best if you left, Miss Hopps.
"Oh no!" Judy stepped forward. "I did my job! I followed the clues, and did what you were either incapable or unwilling of doing!" Judy took another step, in her anger forgetting about her injured foot. Stumbling, she caught herself on Carmelita's table, and felt like her entire body was covered in fire. Unable to think, unable to breathe, her body reacted instantly, shoving away from the supporting object. Instantly, feeling returned to her body as her muscles unseized, causing the doe to drop to the floor. Looking up, she saw faint sparks across the decorative iron trim of the table. Eyes tracing back to the vixen, she saw the same sparks flickering up and down her arm that held a white-knuckle grip on the tables edge.
Carmelita's eyes cracked open, a barely restrained fury burning within. "Leave me," she hissed.
This time, Judy had no complaints as she hobbled out as quickly as she could.
Actual A/N: Sorry for the delay. Hope the longer than normal chapter makes up for it! In all honesty, it's been a hectic past couple of months - moving, family/friend drama, procrastination... The usual.
Also, I... uh, I may have written my 'Mac' out of a job. Less than a week after posting the last chapter with Zootopia Mac going squirrely and losing his job, real life 'Mac' kinda... went squirrely and quit his job.
Note to self: Stop using real people as inspiration for characters, and then messing with the character's lives. My plasmid-fueled writing powers may have unintentional real-life side effects.
Also, should my writing plan go as, well, planned, the next chapter should reveal who the hotel thief is. Any of you guys/gals figured it out? I've tried to supply all the necessary clues to do so!
