Zootopia belongs to Disney. Spider-Man belongs to Sony.
Danny closed the door behind him and pressed his ear up to the wood. Though the glass of the door was obscured, his silhouette would still be visible.
"You know, officer, it seems to me that Mr. Arcturus listens to you, despite his temper, if I may be so bold."
"I'm... not sure what you mean."
"I think that what just happened proves that fact. Heh! I ask him to leave, and he doesn't listen. You tell him to leave, he listens immediately."
"So, what's your suggestion, sir?" asked the chief.
"I suggest that Mr. Arcturus be placed into the care of Detective Wilde."
Alarm bells went off. Really, really loud alarms. This was a serious deja vu. He'd been here before, right in this very spot, promised a place to live, only to have that home swiped from underneath him. Liability, Danny. Liability.
"Hold on, what gave you that ridiculous idea?"
"I'll say!" I whispered. This was the worst idea in history. The amount of baggage he'd bring with him from his father's death alone already made him a basket case! Like she could do anything to fix that!
"Actually, I think I'll do it."
No... no, no. Not again. Please don't...
Danny couldn't listen anymore. He quietly ran downstairs past the cheetah at the front desk. He was on the phone, but he watched the cub with a puzzled expression.
"Is everything ok?" he tried to ask before Danny fell out of sight around the corner to the holding area.
"Fine!" he shouted back. Then he disappeared around the corner.
That was weird... "Oh, uh, I'm sorry, Chief Holden, I was- never mind. So, inspections are this coming Monday?...
Danny didn't bother waiting for anyone. He tore open the bars and threw himself in before restoring them (more or less) to their original shape. The world couldn't get him in here. He hated the cell's cramped spaces, sure, but it beat having to sink any lower than he was. Maybe he should just leave Zootopia. Find another city to terrorize, wait for that one to catch up, go to the next one. This one had caught up with him.
At that moment, the door opened. He tensed, hoping against hope it wasn't Judy.
He closed his eyes, waiting for the "news" which wasn't really news to him at all. If they were smart, then they knew he'd been listening all along.
"Hey, kid, how's it goin'?"
Danny looked up to see a gray wolf standing in front of his cell. Danny sat on his bed, wondering what the wolf was there for.
"Hey..." Danny answered hesitantly. He had not officially met this wolf - or for that matter any of the other officers besides Nick, Judy, and the Horned King.
"Name's Wolfard, Gareth Wolfard. They, uh, told me that I'm going to be your little guard tonight, make sure you don't try to bust out again."
Danny almost laughed. It was comical that they were putting so much effort into this. Granted, this was one officer so... yeesh, not much effort.
Then he clarified. "Well, not guard you so much as notify the ZPD if you try to get out."
Ah, now that made sense. "Fair enough," said Danny.
"So tell me, kid, what brought you here?"
Danny looked at him. "Seriously? I'm getting one of those talks? Like," he started talking in a nasal voice, "you know why you're here because you broke the law you deserve it neh neh neh neh neh neh."
The wolf actually laughed. "That was good, kid. But no, I'm just curious to hear aboutcha."
He raised an eyebrow. He wasn't feeling up to giving his life's story. Or giving some sort of confession, especially to this mammal he'd never met before. But he decided to humor him, let off some steam.
"You wanna know how I got here? That leopard Kenten had me do his dirty work for him and I took the heat! That's how. And all of you all are just using me as the scapegoat to keep the ones who gambled their money away off of your backs."
Wolfard's smile had vanished. He seems mature for a kid, he thought. He sat down opposite the cell, before gesturing him to go on.
"What?"
"What else?"
"What, what else?"
"Well, tell me more about you. Your life before you started working for him. You're eleven, right-?"
"Twelve, basically."
"Ok, you're twelve. That would have made you... about four or five around the time of the nighthowler crisis. Tell me about that."
"Why do you want to know about that?"
"Because that could not have been easy for you."
"Ha! Ain't that the understatement of the century. The vast majority of the mammals in this massive city are prey. And they all came for us, all of them. All because of that bunny!"
"It wasn't her fault that there were prey doing that to us, Danny. No one knew why predators were going savage like that; everyone was scared. She was trying to stop it."
"But she didn't, did she?"
"Actually, she did."
Danny looked at him, reflecting on the explanation she had given him. That was true. But his anger welled up again and smushed that thought down. He would not let it go. Not for what happened to his father.
"Doesn't matter. She can't change what happened."
"What happened, though?"
"Y'ever hear the name Alex Arcturus?"
"No. Your dad, I assume?"
"Yeah."
"What happened to him?"
"Look him up, you'll find out."
Wolfard looked into Danny's eyes. Honestly, he didn't know what he would find. But he had an idea. He just hoped it wasn't what he thought it was, because that anger, the rage simmering just below the surface and spilling over ever so slightly - he could see it. It was a look he was all too familiar with. Because he had worn that look for a long time. He wanted to bring it up, and he itched to go look at Danny's file. He needed to see if what Danny had gone through during that period was what he thought it was...
So he kept his thoughts to himself and just changed the subject. Danny eventually settled down and found himself chatting with the wolf. He seemed likable, though he stayed on his toes, only revealing safe information. He was not going to allow himself to get close to anyone. He wouldn't be able to bear it.
Around five in the afternoon, Judy came into the holding block with Nick right behind her. Neither said nothing as Judy checked on Danny, making sure he was right where he needed to be. Both bunny and fox were visually agitated. Danny wondered what was going on.
"You two have a good night," said Wolfard. They didn't respond. But Danny faintly heard Nick's voice outside the closed holding cell door as they left for a second or two before it faded.
"What's going on with them?" asked Danny.
"Ah! If you get married one day, my friend, you'll understand. I mean, I'm not married, probably never will be. But I've seen plenty of married couples duke it out pretty hard. I'm sure they'll be fine, though. They're strong."
"Heh! If it's that bad, I don't know why I would want to get married."
"Well, you never know. Might be worth it."
He scoffed. "Right." He looked up for a second at the windows. "Around this time I'm usually crawling out that window up there." He pointed at it. Wolfard looked up.
"Huh. Where would you go?"
Danny figured there was no reason to hide this; he apparently belonged in the custody of Officer Judy Wilde. "I wouldn't go far. I never went farther than Gaia, about a half mile from here."
He nodded. "I know it."
Danny continued. "Usually I would tackle rich jerkoffs and relieve them of something like their wallet or their phone or watch or something. Just one item. And I would throw it away afterward."
Wolfard nodded, trying to push down his lawmammal's instinct to bristle at the knowledge of such activity.
"Last time I went out, I got into an apartment and, you won't believe this, there was a burglar there!"
You mean like you? Wolfard thought though he did not show it.
Danny told him about the burglar's clumsy break-in, attempt to molest the mother, and Danny's mildly violent (and expensive) response.
Wait, hold on.
"So... you saved them. Despite the fact that you broke in?"
Danny just shrugged. "Not like I was going to let him rape that otter in front of their daughter. I'm not that bad."
Everything fell into place in his mind. He'd heard from the officers on the scene that the family had said the burglar had been pulled through their window by some kind of rope that appeared out of nowhere. Oh... if we could just leverage this kid in the right direction...
"That had to feel good, saving them from having to experience that kind of abuse."
"Eh, yeah I guess. Didn't get what I went there for. Oh well. Besides, I realized that they were otters. So, I wasn't in the right apartment anyway. I just thought they were prey because the apartment was relatively small. So, wrong assumption."
Wolfard couldn't help but bring it up. He tried to ask delicately. "What about st- taking from those mammals? How do you feel about that?"
"Why does it matter?" asked Danny, feeling his walls begin to ascend.
"Danny, those mammals didn't do anything to you. It's wrong to do that."
And... there went the chains. He was on full guard duty.
"Let me ask you a question. Did prey ever do anything to you during the crisis?"
"Well, yeah, but.."
"And did you see prey hurting others during that time? Or after?"
"Sure, but you have to underst-"
"The reason they did all those things, Wolfard, is because they were given permission. There was no one there to stop them. Give them a reason to gang-up on us, and they attack. No matter what you do, you're alone."
"Danny, I understand-"
"No, you don't. You're still all hung up on pretending that prey are perfect little angels. Let me tell you a story. I was a four-year-old kid with my dad. Our neighbors - who were prey mind you - burned down our trailer so we were thrown out on the streets with nothing. We were hungry, thirsty, and cold. Not much clothing, no places that would take us in because we were predators!" He spoke evenly, but his words were charged with emotion, especially a stale, deep-set anger. His voice began to rise until he was nearly shouting. "And one night, while we were sleeping in the cold, a bunny and a bunch of other prey took my dad and beat him to death with a bat!"
The wolf stared wide-eyed at the young panther cub, whose eyes were beginning to grow glossy and shiny. It was worse than he had expected. Much, much worse. To face abuse from prey was one thing, but for a cub who was barely outside of his teething stage to watch something no one should ever have to see... no wonder he was like this. The scars from this horrific tragedy were built into the most fundamental level of his being. It was part of how he defined himself. Wolfard let out a deep breath. He wanted to tell him, let him know.
"Danny, I-"
"No, I don't wanna hear it!"
"Please, please, just listen..."
"Don't..."
"I know what-"
"SHUT UP!" he snapped. "LEAVE ME ALONE!" Danny turned around in his bed, leaving Wolfard staring at his back for who knew how long. He kept his mouth shut, but he decided he would tell him when the time was right.
Oh, you poor kid.
Wolfard sat quietly with his head bowed as he contemplated what the cub had just told him. He let a few tears fall from his eyes. He longed to tell him that he had gone through the very same thing growing up.