Chapter 20: Lost
October 3rd, 2016, earlier in the morning
Life behind bars was something he never wanted to do. But life behind bars while being held captive by a dangerous zebra was beyond his imagination. But whether he liked it or not, it was happening to him. And not just him, four others as well had to deal with the exact same issue with them being in the same cell as he is. And to only make matters worse, all of them had families they needed to be with right now.
"Chip, would you be a good lad already and mind helping us out with Maria over here?" Stu Hopps asked, as he and the others were still stuck in the cell while trying help Maria Masto, the mother of Finnick deal with her sickness.
Chip yawned. "Listen Mr. Hopps, I'm not the kind of animal you want help from when it comes to mammals down with sicknesses like that. Heck, you all probably know more than me about it."
"But you said you knew first aid didn't you?"
"No, I said I took a first aid class back in high school, which by the way I barely passed in." Chip replied. "Now if you don't mind, I'm trying to get a few more minutes of sleep here."
"Chip, were trapped inside a cell with exactly nowhere to go along with no type of communication we can use to speak to the outside world right now!" Stu stammered. "So I'm pretty sure you will have time to get your few minutes of sleep later, but right now we could use your assistance over here!"
Chip groaned. "Alright fine." He said as he slowly got up. "What exactly do you need my assistance for?"
"We just need you to confirm how high her fever is." Stu replied. "She does feel pretty warm, but we aren't sure if that's a good or bad thing."
Chip went over to Maria to feel her body temperature. "Hmm, it definitely is warm, but the fact that she can't get up or speak even at her age isn't a good sign."
"How bad do you think it is then?" Ellie the sister of Clawhauser, another one of the mammals in the cell asked.
"I'm not quite sure, but something tells me she may not be able to make it without proper medical care." Chip replied.
"Hey fellas, what's wrong with that fennec there?" A koala guard asked, while walking by the cells. "She doesn't look to be in real good shape by the looks of it."
"We're not sure, we think she may have come down with some sort of sickness." Stu replied.
"It's not very surprising this happened to her." Chip said. "This sewers is most likely filled with all sorts of diseases with whatever has come down here."
"Well you got me on that one." The koala replied. "These sewer lines in the Canal district have been abandoned for quite a few years now with this part of the district being nearly abandoned along with it. So you nor I wouldn't be quite shocked to see someone come down with a sickness from the diseases spreading down here."
"So then, how do you treat mammals down here that come down with sicknesses like the one she's got?" Sherry Wolford, mother of Danny Wolford another one of the mammals in the cell asked.
"Oh I'll show you don't worry, Mary, Derek!" The koala cried out. A few seconds later, a raccoon and a Zebra were standing in front of the cell as well.
"Would you be so kind to watch them for a moment while I go in there for a second?" The koala asked. "It would be much appreciated." The raccoon and zebra nodded in agreement. "Splendid. Now I'll be coming in for a moment to be dealing with the fennec over here that we have to be not doing very well due to her sickness.
The koala then unlocked the door and went inside the cell to check on the coughing and weak fennec. He felt her body and immediately knew it was bad she caught.
"So, how is she?" Stu asked.
"She really is indeed in terrible condition." The koala replied. "Terrible enough to the point she can't even speak. You can see for yourself, all that will come out of her mouth is just coughing, coughing, and some more coughing.
"So then what do you suggest you guys do about it?" Stu asked.
"Well, only one thing we can do now."
The koala then took out a gun and pointed it at Maria.
Chip's eyes widened. "NO WAIT DON'T-!"
"BANG!" went the gun.
The koala had shot Maria straight in the head with blood spraying onto all of the mammals.
Chip's jaw dropped. "You…. You actually…." He said unable to speak.
"That is how we treat animals down here that come down with sicknesses." The koala said. "When it comes to the sicknesses that woman was carrying, it would most likely have contaminated all of you if you're all staying in the same cell. And if the rest of you die, your relatives will have no motive and it can ruin this whole organization if they tell anyone. So it's best that we take out the sick one, rather than simply watching the entire herd die."
The rest of the mammals in the cell stood there stunned from what they had just seen with their own two eyes, as well as the blood covering their clothing.
"Don't worry, I'll be taking her body away and placing it somewhere until we can get rid of it." The koala said. "We don't want the disease to still be in here after all."
"Yea, and how do you think her son is going to take this now, do you even realize what you've just done?!" Chip shouted furiously.
"We can just tell him she came down with a sickness and passed away, I'm sure he'll understand."
"Don't count on it!"
The koala grinned. "Now then, does anyone else have something to say that we should know about?" He asked pointing the gun at them. Most of the mammals shook their head. "Yea, that's what I thought." He said putting his gun away. "Mary, Derek, take this fennec away and put her in the truck. We'll drive back out to the desert with her body later."
Mary and Derek went in and grabbed Maria's body while walking out of the cell with it. The followed behind them as he went out while locking the cell once more.
Sherry Wolford immediately went towards the corner of the cell and threw up from the sight of blood everywhere, as well as witnessing a murder right in front of her. The other three nearly did the same thing as well, especially after seeing someone else do it.
"Well I guess you can have your few minutes of sleep now." Stu said glaring at Chip.
Chip tightened his grip as he glared right back at Stu.
October 3rd, 2016, present
"Pew." Went the gun.
She thought her entire life was over. She figured when she opened her eyes again, she would be in either heaven or hell depending on her choices in life. But no. when she opened them again, she was still on the couch in Nick's apartment with the gun Z was still pointing at her as she saw the smoke from the gun. She turned and saw a hole through Nick's couch, which she assumed was the bullet hole Z shot at.
"That was a warning shot." Z said. "The next shot I take Miss Tailsmith definitely won't miss next time. Don't forget that."
Nick still tried to calm down after almost believing he shot her. "So can you just give her a chance then Z?"
Z sighed. "Under normal circumstances I would never do such a thing when it comes to mammals like her, since the first shot would always go to the head with no questions asked."
"That's a normal circumstance?" Amber mumbled.
"But as much as I hate to say it, you do make a fair point Mr. Wilde." Z admitted. "At desperate times such as this, we may need a few more helping paws if I'm ever going to continue with this business. I'll back off for now with this little problem we have here, but that does not mean I will have you two or any of your friends off my mind. You should consider yourselves lucky my conscience got through to me with this one."
"Thank you Z." Nick said. "We promise to you nothing bad will come to you by doing this. You made the right choice here."
"That's not what I'm worried about right now Mr. Wilde." Z said talking back. "Besides, what I'm more concerned about is how you are going to be able to keep her in the same city that is currently looking for her, for all we know the ZPD might not think she's actually dead."
"I'm sure we can figure out a solution to that when the time is right?" Nick said enthusiastically.
"And I'm just curious, who else knows about this fox girl being here other than you?"
"Um, well other than me it's just Judy that knows."
Z laid his hooves on his head, and closed his eyes while shaking his head trying to act mad. "You told Officer Hopps about this?"
"Well I needed someone to talk to about what I'm dealing with here." Nick said defensively. "What, you think I'm the only one around here who comes up with the ideas, almost like I'm the brain in the group?"
"Well you sure act like it." Z replied.
Nick chuckled. "Well, it's true that I'm not much of a mammal that would ask a rabbit for help, but when it comes to trust, she's the best person I can think of to be trustworthy enough to talk to about certain conversations like this."
"Yea, that makes sense." Z said. "She definitely isn't one that fears, she's more of one that wants to stand up to fear. It's almost as if she doesn't know what true fear is."
"Yea, she has been known to be a pretty naïve little bunny at certain times." Nick said agreeing with Z. "Believe me, I've seen a bunch of times with her like that-"
"It's what I don't like about her." Z interrupted. "That girl seems to have been filled with hope and prosperity her whole life that she is practically blind as to what fear even is."
"But you don't know her life as well as you think you to Z…" Nick said disagreeing. "I've heard about a few dark times with her back in the past… it's not like it's any easier for."
"Perhaps." Z said. "But I wouldn't worry about it. One day, no matter what her past was like, I will show her what true fear is."
Both Nick and Amber didn't like the sound of that.
"Oh but listen, I'm going on about silly nonsense right now." Z said in a normal tone. "I'll be off now, but you two better play your moves carefully over the next few months, or else I'll be making them for you no matter what they will be. Farewell."
Z put his gun back in his suit as he began walking to the door. By the time he walked out of the room and slammed the door shut, Amber got up to make sure Z was gone by looking out the window.
"Look Amber, I know how this may seem, but you have believe me when I say that I knew what Z was going to-!"
"SLAP!" Went the sound of Amber slapping Nick in the face. "Just what in the hell was that?!" She yelled.
"Uh, it's called saving your skin so, you're welcome?" Nick said sarcastically. "And ow by the way!"
"Nick what did you do?" Amber asked. "What did you just tell him about me?!"
"I told him the truth, what else do you think I told him when it comes to someone like him barging into my apartment, and immediately having a gun pointed at your head with the trigger ready to be pulled?"
Amber had a furious expression on her face. "What in your mind made you decide to do that?!" She shrieked.
"Do you know about the recent shootout that happened yet?" Nick asked. "But you probably already heard about it on the news by now."
"What about that, that explains your reasoning behind Z's murder attempt on me?!"
"I'm getting to that, just calm down." Nick replied. "The shootout started when Z's crew figured out it was a setup Drew Hoble created, but the ZPD was still able to get loads of evidence from the crime scene and now Z told all of his mammals, including me and my friends that they have to shut down the business for most likely a couple, or even a few months until further notice."
"I'm sorry, but you're losing me as to why you fricking told him about me and where I am!"
"I'm getting to that!" Nick shouted, while trying to keep her patient. "Now under the circumstances that you and I have been put under by Z, it seemed reasonable to tell him about you."
"Reasonable?" Amber asked. "How in any way would it be reasonable?!"
"Because we won't be seeing his face anytime soon for another whole few months!" Nick exclaimed. "Besides, whenever I chatted with him in regards to you, it was almost as if he forgot you were a problem! Also if Z were to find out about you hiding here months in advance, he would assume I was purposely keeping him from finding you."
"But you have been purposely keeping him from finding me this whole time Nick!"
"You see, Judy said the exact same thing to me before I was about to tell Z about you Amber, but the thing is we don't want him to know that."
"Well I'll bet he knows now genius!"
"Well, not necessarily because otherwise he really would've pulled the trigger on your head, and not on my couch."
October 4th, 2016
"Really, so then what did she do next?" Judy asked.
"Well she obviously freaked out about what the heck all that was about, she even slapped me in the face!" Nick replied, as he and Judy were chatting with each other on their break in the cruiser. "My face was red afterward, But eventually she ran out of energy and just gave up on fighting with me."
"Nick, your face is always red."
"Oh, you're right." Nick said, as both of them started laughing.
"So on a serious note though, what does this mean for her and Z's relationship with each other?"
"It doesn't seem like he will kill her, but it's more like he's keeping a close eye on her at the same time." He replied. "He did say though that she could be useful to him when he 'opens' that business of his again, but it's not like it should be too challenging for him to find some other mammals to do his dirty work. Sometimes Judy... I really tend to wonder if Z is just going to let us go once he doesn't need us anymore."
Judy started biting her lip. "Well, we should just make sure it doesn't come to that then."
"Right." Nick said, knowing that it's not as easy as it sounds.
"So hey, did you ever ask Finnick or Danny about their thoughts on last night?"
Nick thought about it. "After the kafuffle with Amber last night, I did phone those two. Danny said it would be better if we just never saw each other for the time being which I totally understand where he's coming from with that, but as for Finnick he never answered his phone."
"Why not?"
"Who knows, maybe he really is a heavier sleeper than we thought." He replied. "I mean we did finish up with all those problems pretty late. By the way, how are you feeling about what happened last night, like mentally? It's just, it's never easy going back to the normal life after an incident such as that."
Judy sighed, knowing what Nick was trying to do. "You don't have to worry about me Nick, and the same goes for Clawhauser." She replied. "You know, back in that building when we realized it was a trap, I wanted to try and figure out a way for it to not result in chaos such as what did happen, but once Fred yelled at us to get out of there, it was almost as if saying he knew what was about to happen and didn't want us to be involved in it. I don't know if that's because he thought we were amateurs at this stuff and didn't want us to blow the entire thing, or if he really did feel like trying to save us as some sort of deed in his heart."
"What, are you saying Z and his mammals actually have a conscience?" Nick asked. "Don't worry, I can confirm Z does after what happened at my apartment last night."
"No, I'm just saying not all of his mammals are total monsters."
"Off of one mammal Judy?" Nick asked. "Look, even you have seen what they have done to us, and other mammals. Once you see sights such as those, it's hard to change your mind about mammals like them."
Judy kept her eyes down. "I know. It's just…. I've been feeling so lost lately on my thoughts that it hasn't been easy while trying to comprehend with all of this craziness we have been dealing with. It makes me ask myself everyday if it will end the next day, or the day after that, or the day after that, or the day after that…."
"Yea, I get your point." Nick said. "Well off topic here, I was just wondering if you still have your stuff from last night."
"What, you mean like the voice changer and the hoodie and such?"
"Yea."
"Oh yea, it's still in my apartment under my bed." Judy said. "I'm sure you've done the same, right?"
"Yea but I might want to try and find a better place just in case." Nick replied. "It's not that I don't trust Amber or anything, it's just that let's say by the million to one chance that an officer were to come into our apartments and scope it out, it definitely wouldn't be good for us in more than just one way."
"Well true, but it isn't very likely for that to happen so I never really bother to think about it."
"But say if someone were to-"
"I'll make sure no one finds that stuff Nick, you don't need to worry about it." Judy said. "What, are you doubting me or something about what I already know?"
"No, I'm just one that doesn't want loose ends such as those to untie, otherwise even a little screw up like that can lead to god only knows what."
"Don't let your imagination get the better of you then." Judy said. "Look all I want to do now is make sure no one else has to die, while we get out of this mess with Z and maybe just maybe by then, we might be able to bring Z to justice for everything that's happened."
Nick sighed. "Mammals say miracles happen if you believe they can. But even a miracle won't be able to stop a monster like Z."
"Nick, think whatever you want, but I'm not going to finish this with Z still out there Scott-free." Judy retaliated. "Think about all the damage he has done up until now at least to our knowledge! Bucky, Weaselton, Drew and his bodyguard, Lenny and his entire gang, his own crew, those mammals buried in the Kafya desert… Your mother?"
Just the mentioning of Nick's mother only brought in horrifying thoughts and memories back into his head. All he could do was try to fight off those memories so it wouldn't corrupt him. "Just think of happy thoughts Nick, think of happy thoughts…." Nick thought.
"Nick, are you okay?" Judy asked, as she saw him with an expression of grief on his face.
Nick hesitated for a moment before responding. "Y-yea…. It's just, it's just hard to believe everything that's happened so far in just a few words like that, that's all…." He said with his face still down.
"Oh, well yea I guess." Judy said. "But at any rate, we just need to have our thoughts together before we start talking about our next move."
"Our next move?" Nick said sarcastically. "Judy, right now it seems like the only moves that we'll be making are the ones Z tells us to make which he said to us himself. That is of course unless you want us to end up like the last time with the little roulette game Z apparently likes to play."
Judy wasn't quite sure what to say after that. "Look let's just, finish our patrol in Savannah central so we can get off early today." She said trying to change the subject.
Nick sighed. "Whatever."
The two finished eating the rest of their lunch and started the car to continue patrolling the Savannah central. But even though they finished chatting with each other about a subject such as Z and the work and events he had do for them, it still didn't feel like that sort of conversation was over and done with for them.
"Why can't Judy just understand by now that it's pointless to do anything risk-taking when mammal's lives are still on the line here?" Nick thought.
"Why can't Nick understand by now that if we don't do something, more mammals lives will be on the line here?" Judy thought.
"I just wish…" Nick thought.
"I just wish…" Judy thought.
"We can do this altogether doing it the right way and finishing this once and for all." They both thought.
Night time.
"Hey chief, a few of us are going to be hitting the bars tonight!" Higgin's said, as he came into Chief Bogo's office. "Me and the boys were just wondering if you wanted to tag along. It's just that, you've been working nonstop for months on this weapons case that we think you could use a break for once."
Bogo chuckled. "I appreciate your offer Higgins really. And I would hate to disappoint you all, but I'm still busy doing research on some of the recent events that have happened."
"Oh, alright then."
"But while you're here, there is something I wanted to ask you about."
"Oh, sure what is it?"
"I just wanted to know if you got any leads on where that jazz transcription disc came from."
"Ah yes I nearly forgot to talk to you about that, thanks for mentioning it to me." Higgins said. "We were actually able to find a match at a club known as the cotton club. Apparently they never even noticed it missing until now so that doesn't exactly help us narrow down the suspects or even species type for that matter."
"What about surveillance tapes, did you find anything on them?"
"The problem with that though is that there wasn't any." Higgins replied. "That place is going out of business right now so they are unable to afford them currently. Needless, to say, we hit a dead end with the jazz disc there Chief."
Bogo laid back in his chair. "It doesn't matter, we still have other options to think about with the weapons. We can have some officers go undercover throughout some of the bad streets in Zootopia and see if we get any luck with them for the same guns seen here, or any for that matter."
"I'll get to work on that as soon as I can then sir." Higgins said. "Hey, I almost forgot to mention, what are you working on right now seeing all these profiles on your desk?"
"I just wanted to see if there was any possible connection to the victims and missing mammals of this case so far, which you and the officers obviously know of by now."
"Ah, and did you find anything that stood out while you were scanning through all of these profiles?"
"Well, one but I'm not sure if I have enough evidence to support it ye."
"Oh come on Chief, you should know us better than that by now!" Higgins said loudly. "We don't care if it's even as small of a connection as a toothpick, it's always great to start somewhere. So what did you find with this connection?"
Bogo shrugged and held up two profiles to Higgins.
"Amber Tailsmith and Duke Weaselton?" Higgins asked. "What's the connection here?"
"Well, it turns out both of them were acquaintances with each other as both of them used to pull of some pretty big scams a while back." Bogo explained. "They lived with each other for a year or so until Miss Tailsmith was able to get enough money to buy her own apartment. Both of them have still been in contact with each other for quite some time, But the way both of them turning up missing seems to be rather odd."
"Why do you say that?"
"Amber Tailsmith suddenly goes missing in the middle of august around the time she and her gang also do, as well as them being suspected of weaponry uses as well." Bogo continued to explain. "Then one month later, we find Mr. Weaselton dead with gunshot wounds all over his body after suspicions of being interrogated by some mammals."
"So, you think this Amber Tailsmith and Duke Weaselton have something to do with the main source of this theorizing weapons manufacturing group?"
"Precisely." Bogo said. "Now I know most signs have shown that the mammals from Lenard Jarvis's group including Amber Tailsmith have already been killed possibly from the main source of whoever is making these weapons, but the question right now is, why would they need to go to Weaselton for information if Miss Tailsmith is already dead?"
Higgins's eyes widened. "Maybe because she's not dead yet!"
Bogo smiled. "Exactly, but most likely just Amber if Weaselton seems to be the only victim we know of that has been interrogated. So if she still is in fact alive right now, I want all officers to be on the lookout for that fox before anything happens to her. If we can find that fox, we might just be able to solve this entire case."
Next week: Chapter 21, Away From Trouble