DISCLAIMER: I had my bid to own Zootopia all ready, and then a little girl used the paper to write a help message, stuck it in a bottle and dripped it in a river. So I still don't own Zootopia, and I have no idea where that bottle ended up. Maybe New York.
Special thanks to GusTheBear for editing this chapter, and everyone welcome back TheoreticallyEva to the editors as well!
By the time Friday rolled around, the rate at which mammals had been reported missing started to taper off. Makeshift "have you seen?" boards had sprung up all over the city and online, with mammals posting photos of their missing friends and loved ones in a desperate attempt to find them.
Unfortunately for many, the casualty reports continued to climb, while the rate at which missing mammals were found alive started to drop. Furston pharmaceuticals couldn't keep up with the demand for Night Howler antidote, so many mammals who were still savage had to be confined. The space available in mental asylums had dropped to nothing, and they'd moved to putting them in minimum security prisons and precinct cells until the antidote could be administered, causing an uproar among mammal rights activists. City lawyers had demanded the antidote formula from the company, but Furston had refused, claiming intellectual property rights, and vowed to take the case to court.
Two other pharmaceutical companies had announced intentions to develop their own antidotes, but that would take weeks, if not months. In retaliation, Furston had warned of patent infringement, which hadn't helped the public perception of the company.
"This morning, the law firm of Clark, Kennedy, and Ford announced that it was filing a counter claim on behalf of former Furston employee Marian Wilde. Attorneys representing Wilde, mother of fox ZPD officer Nicholas Wilde, filed a multimillion dollar claim in Zootopia's superior court against the company and against former Furston Chief Operating Officer James McStripeson for slander and defamation, and stated that further suits may be pending.
"The law firm stated that it was 'shameful how the company has responded to a mammal who simply wanted to do the right thing by turning evidence against her employers into the police department'. When asked about potential conflicts of interest with her police officer son, the firm responded that neither Officer Wilde nor his partner had been involved with the processing and independent verification of the evidence she had provided. The police department declined to comment further, stating that Marian Wilde's specific involvement is being kept confidential pending further investigation into the actions of the company and its employees.
"Attorney Terrence Ramsford, representing James McStripeson, called the charges 'blatantly twisting the facts' and noted that prior to the raids conducted by the police department, there was 'no evidence of any wrongdoing by his client'. Ramsford has also filed a civil claim against Furston for wrongful termination and defamation. Furston spokesmammals could not be reached for comment."
Nick and Judy stared at the television a moment.
Judy was the first to comment. "Wow, Ramsford really isn't backing down. He must think he's hit a jackpot or something."
The fox sitting next to her couldn't help but agree. "He might have something in the defamation suit against Furston, but the wrongful termination, that's harder given what we know, and against my mother… That's definitely reaching. My mom's attorney, on the other paw, has a much better legal claim for the suits he's filing." The fox's expression dropped. "All things being equal of course."
The doe looked over at him. "Fox prejudice?"
The fox nodded. "I've seen juries convict a fox of crimes he was innocent of multiple times, even when the evidence disagreed with them. 'They are a fox, so obviously they did it.' At least in a lawsuit, you only need to convince a jury if it goes to trial. Otherwise, you just have to convince a judge."
The doe shook her head. "I can't believe I was one of those mammals that might have just thrown a fox under the bus for just that reason."
"You learned from your attitude and changed it." Nick nudged her. "Not all mammals are willing to do that, and you know it."
"Yeah, that's true." The TV continued droning on, oblivious to the two mammals currently ignoring it.
For Nick and Judy, the week had mostly consisted of nothing but watching said TV and movies, going for walks, and trying to learn how to cook, often to disastrous results—something not cooked right, overdone, or, in one case, bursting into flame, leading to both of them scrambling for the fire extinguisher that Nick kept under the kitchen sink.
The night before, though, they had both managed to concoct a meal of French onion soup that they had found online, and that had turned out rather well, all things considered.
The two had MuzzleTimed Nick's mother and Judy's parents regularly, the older vixen going somewhat crazy cooped up inside all the time. She did mention Grizzoli and Fangmeyer dropping by regularly, along with the two detectives making regular checkups. Longtooth still had her arm in a sling from when she was attacked on Sunday, and it looked like it would be that way for a few weeks yet.
The number of able-bodied officers had taken other hits, too, often involving savage mammals, but also a few because of workplace accidents brought on by the long hours with little sleep while traversing the Rainforest and Canals district and looking for said missing and savage mammals.
Out in the burrows, things stayed relatively normal, according to Maddy, Bonnie, and Stu, though Maddy did admit that there had been a few more cases of anti-fox or anti-predator bigotry at the bakery than usual in the last week. Judy, Maddy, and Nick had shared a chuckle at the irony of walking into a well-known fox-owned bakery and complaining about that particular fact.
Bonnie and Stu, of course, continually expressed worry over Judy's condition. The pain in her chest had been steady, getting neither worse nor better. Out of concern for her own self-control and after having read addiction warnings, she had asked Nick to hide the painkillers she took and never let her have more than the daily dose. Nick had taken the request seriously, having seen first-paw how easily mammals could get addicted to the things, and was glad that Judy typically never hit the daily dose limit, preferring to tough the pain out.
At his mother's request, Nick had gone to her apartment Thursday morning to check on it. He hadn't found anything amiss, but both foxes were still somewhat worried, so he'd packed up his mother's few valuables, along with some photo albums and her laptop, and had Fangmeyer help him move them to his and Judy's apartment. It wasn't much, but it made the vixen happier knowing those things at least were safeguarded.
While search and rescues, number counts, and "new developments" continued to dominate the news, there were some fluff pieces as well. Many prey had come forward in support of predators and vice versa, and a few mixed order couples had also come out of the closet.
Water had finally been fully restored to the entire city on Wednesday afternoon, when the mains for the last subdivision were flushed out. The Rainforest District's water treatment plant had been brought fully back online, though with minimal staff.
Later, Thursday evening, Gazelle had made another impassioned plea for unity with her tiger mate in a remote video call from her penthouse apartment. She further begged for all mammals to stand up to support and provide for those who had lost their homes, jobs, and loved ones in the attack.
The big news of the week was the release of the preliminary environmental assessment performed by the city in the Rainforest and Canal Districts. Though water sources had cleared, and the pipes had been flushed, the soil itself remained contaminated, and the toxins were leaking into the rivers and canals.
Of course, this set environmentalists off, and the international press got wind of it, leading to further outcry. Since the outflow from those canals and rivers went right into the ocean, there were calls to boycott all travel to and from the Zootopia city-state until the mess could be cleaned up. City council had rapidly commissioned a study to determine how the mess could be cleaned up, if possible, and a call for a cleanup bid for both districts was put out to every company in the city. Everyone knew the costs would be astronomical.
More and more countries had announced a complete cessation of all flights to and from the city state, while all but one cruise ship company had removed Zootopia from its list of ports of call.
It wasn't all bad news, though, as ZNN regularly ran pieces detailing the heroism of some mammals in the mad struggle to escape from the carnage the morning of the attack. One that stuck with Nick and Judy was of a moose who held off a tiger at the soccer stadium, buying a family of coyotes just enough time to escape. The moose had survived but would likely never regain full use of his legs. The coyote mother telling the story hadn't been able to keep the tears from her eyes.
There were other stories of course. The construction worker who jumped into a deep pit that had been excavated, effectively caging himself when he felt the effects of the toxin coming on; the elephant who restrained a savage wolf, keeping the wolf from attacking a busload of kits; the everyday mammals who charged into the fires to make sure that residents got out; and the story of one jaguar teen who died defending his baby sister from their savage parents. The baby had been rescued by Fangmeyer and was recovering in the pediatrics center of the Zootopia General Hospital. Her family hadn't been so lucky, though, as the tigress had told the fox and rabbit duo, and that was something they left out of the newsreel.
Fangmeyer herself had been on a regular sixteen-hour rotation, along with most of the other officers, with half of her days either policing the city or searching for missing mammals, and the other half as guard duty at Marian's safe house. Grizzoli was in a very similar boat, and Marian thoroughly enjoyed the conversations she had with both.
Nick and Judy had been asking to visit with the vixen for some time, and they were finally given a window with which to do so, limited as it was. Judy's phone pinged with a notification that Longtooth was waiting outside, and the fox and rabbit headed downstairs.
The lioness detective was driving a nondescript brown sedan—not one of the department-issue ones, but likely her own personal vehicle. Judy and Nick both climbed in the back, the front seat technically too large for them.
"Sorry about the mess back there, you two. Bogo figured that we shouldn't be usin' department cars to go visit your mom, since that would start the safehouse neighbors talkin' more than they already are. So today, you get a ride in ol' Bessie here."
Judy grinned. "You call this old, Nolwazi? My dad has a truck on our farm that was built back in the 60s that he still uses."
Nick looked across at his doe. "That was the one that you drove to Zootopia in after you figured out what was going on, right?"
The doe nodded. "Yeah, dad was honestly pretty against new vehicles for the farm for the longest time. Didn't like things like GPS or all the other 'bells and whistles,' as he called them. Too much stuff that could break, he said. So, he just had my brothers and sisters keep the old equipment running as long as possible. You should have seen him, though, when he got the first GPS-guided tractors and combine harvesters. He was gushing about how easy the harvesting work was compared to the old combines." The doe turned to the lioness driver. "How's your arm?"
The detective held up her injured arm. "Itches like hell and makes me want to tear the bandages off and scratch, but I'll be OK. It was a pretty nasty bite I got."
"You'll be OK, though?"
"Don't worry, Judy, it'll take more'n a bite to take down this cat!"
Bogo continued to juggle the politics of running the city and the stresses of running the police department, and it was the latter task that was causing him the most stress at that moment. The depleted force, the overtime, and the long hours were getting to the bull, and mammals around the station had learned to steer clear.
All but one, it seemed. Charles Bucks stood confidently in front of the much larger Cape buffalo as he delivered his preliminary findings.
Bogo glared daggers at the IA agent. "So, let me get this straight. You are recommending that Internal Affairs charge Officers Hopps and Wilde with excessive use of force, even though they followed all the departmental regulations they could, given the circumstances?"
"Coroner's findings were clear, Chief, any one of the three bullets Ms. Hopps fired would have killed Doug Ramses. Taken together…" Bucks trailed off. "Not to mention that they made no attempt to contact dispatch or remove themselves from the situation when they figured out their radio wasn't working. Instead, they both decided to take the law into their own paws."
The chief's glare intensified, though it was now equal parts rage and astonishment that anyone could be so biased. "By nonlethally subduing one suspect that was in the process of trying to flee, and eliminating a threat to their lives? You do realize that the police union already does not agree with you and that we have a lawyer on retainer to represent them as well, correct?"
Bucks shrugged. "I would be surprised if you didn't have a lawyer on retainer, and I know about Silverwolf. I welcome this. Hopefully, if this goes to trial, mammals will realize that tokens like Ms. Hopps and Mr. Wilde have no place in police forces, something you seem blind to."
The goat turned and walked out of the office, leaving Bogo to steam. The chief picked up the phone to call Silverwolf, cursing as it went to voicemail.
The wolf in question had turned off his phone for a very specific reason. Sitting across from him in the conference room was Jonathan Woolson.
The union representative had been told that Woolson wanted to meet with him. That was after Silverwolf had met with Charles Bucks, who had made it clear he was out for Bogo's blood and that Hopps and Wilde were just conveniently in his line of fire so he could take them out, too.
At least, that was his plan. Silverwolf had every intention of standing right in the way of that plan, and he was sure that Bogo did as well. The union had also lined up a lawyer to represent Hopps and Wilde, in case it ever came to that. The wolf hoped that it wouldn't.
He'd chosen the conference room as a meeting area to give a more relaxed vibe, rather than the cold, hostile atmosphere of the interrogation rooms in the basement, unconsciously paralleling the decisions made for Felicity Stang and Marian Wilde a week earlier.
"You wanted to talk, Woolson?"
The ram nodded. "I did. It's about Bucks."
"I see. I wanted to ask you about that, actually. It seems that Bucks is doing all the talking here."
"He is, and that bothers me."
The wolf sat back. "Bothers you in what way? IA assigns two mammals to each case, so that mammals can't be railroaded."
"I am well aware of that, Mr. Silverwolf." The ram crossed his arms. "This isn't my first rodeo."
Silverwolf sighed. "Then why did you ask to meet with me? You know that I'm opposed to Bucks' stance and approach to this whole investigation."
The ram stared at the predator for a long moment, then looked around.
"Bucks is meeting with the chief in his office, if that's what you are worried about." The look in the ram's eyes confirmed it for him.
"Off the record? I think Bucks is crocshit, sir. Wouldn't even let me put a word into the official report. And I disagree with his findings completely. Far as I can tell, we got nothing to complain about with Hopps and Wilde and their approach to the shooting of Mr. Ramses. But he threatened to ruin me if I disagreed with him."
The wolf nodded. "I figured as much. But the thing is, if Bucks' assessment gets filed without contest, the union will fight it, and it'll end up going to court. It would put the department in a bad position, too, to show that a judgement was handed down by one mammal. That's why you need to file your version."
"But what if Bucks disagrees?"
"Then he disagrees. He can't do anything to you, not legally. He likes to swing his weight around like it means something. It doesn't, or at least it shouldn't. Internal Affairs needs to be impartial. If you go looking for blood in the wrong places, the department could be exposed to wrongful termination lawsuits, defamation lawsuits, anything. And after this last week, you can bet that there is going to be a microscope set on us by the politicians and the courts."
The ram's face adopted a thoughtful look. The city had already announced a full accounting of the actions of emergency responders throughout the whole crisis and had pledged that it would be an "open book", meaning that everyone would have access to the details, though they wouldn't be able to act on them.
That wouldn't stop them from voicing opinions, though. After the gang wars ten years ago, there had been a huge public outcry about the number of civilian casualties, even if none had been directly caused by the ZPD. In the end, the police chief at the time had stepped down and retired, and Bogo had taken his place.
That had been the last major upset in the city until the Night Howler attacks a year ago by former mayor Dawn Bellwether.
Jonathan Woolson stood. "I'd better write my own report then. Should have done it already, but I figured Bucks would actually let me contribute to his. What's with that guy?"
"Sorry, bud, can't say."
The ram nodded and left the room. Silverwolf sat for a long moment before scribbling some notes in his pad, then pulled out his phone and turned it back on. He wasn't surprised to see a missed call from the chief, followed by a texted request to meet immediately in said Cape buffalo's office. The wolf glanced over his notes again and gathered them up, heading to his requested meeting with the other mammal.
"Economic outlook isn't good, Mayor. Three more airlines have just cancelled service to Zootopia, and investment's fallen through the floor in the last week. A lot of companies are worried they'll have to lay off employees or even close up shop. And that's after just a week. Things weren't that great after the Grand Palm attack, but now…" The mongoose standing in front of Peter Clawheed trailed off. She didn't need to finish the thought.
"We might be headed for a recession," the mayor growled out. Just what he needed at this point. He pinched the bridge of his nose, squinting.
"Not might, sir. We are. We've lost too much economic potential already, and it's going to get worse."
"Alright, thank you, Ms. Johnson."
The mongoose left the office, leaving the mayor rubbing his temples. Every day was an avalanche of bad news lately, with seemingly no end in sight. He'd based his election campaign on equality and economic prosperity for all, but it seemed like everything that had happened since the snap election last year had been nothing but a hindrance to his efforts. The increasing riots and protests, the civil unrest, then the Grand Palm attack, and things had gone downhill even faster. And now this. Nothing could have prepared him for a disaster of this scale. Every time it looked like they turned a corner, more bad news fell into his lap.
The mayor had been under enormous pressure from shipping companies and Zootopia Pacific Railway to reopen the city's borders and allow commerce to flow again. The week had not been kind to the city and its surrounding region in that regard, and several ships waiting in the harbor had given up and sailed for other ports. Consumers had turned to panic-buying essentials, and some non-essentials, oddly enough. Even his best advisors couldn't figure out why stores suddenly couldn't keep a supply of Styrofoam cups, with one commenting rather sardonically that maybe that would be Zootopia's new currency.
"I'll have a twelve-pack of chicken burger buns," the advisor had mused in one voice, then continued in another. "That'll be 10 Styrofoam cups and two lids, sir."
The council chambers had erupted in some much-needed laughter at that. The eleven remaining city councillors and the mayor were all wound tighter than a violin's E-string. Arguments were commonplace already, and now they had turned almost violent. Each councillor—minus the one from Tundratown, who had been arrested—had different opinions. This included the Tundratown deputy councillor, on vacation in Europe, who had been called home, but that didn't really work very well with no traffic coming into Zootopia International Airport. Instead, he was scheduled to land at Deerbrooke International.
Being a much smaller airport than Zootopia, and mostly designed for regional flights and flights to countries that bordered the Zootopia state, Deerbrooke International very rarely got transoceanic flights—just a few per week at most. It was on one of these in which the councillor had been able to get the first available seat. He'd be landing later that day and would have to catch the train to the current end of line in Prairie Den, an hour outside the city. From there, a police squad car would pick him up and bring him the rest of the way.
For now, the remaining eleven councillors had vastly differing opinions on how to proceed once the ZPD and fire department lifted the state of emergency. The Downtown, Savannah Central, and Sahara Square councillors all wanted a rapid return to normalcy but bickered over how to approach that, with the Savannah Central and Downtown councillors arguing that Sahara Square would be the least likely to return to normal, due to its heavy reliance on tourism.
On the flip side, the Canal and Rainforest District councillors had argued for maximum funding to go towards the restoration of the two affected districts so that mammals could return to their homes and allow their lives to resume. Almost all the others had jumped down their throats, arguing that there wouldn't be any money for restoration if the rest of the city couldn't be restarted.
The other six councillors also argued various points in favour of their own districts, and no one had reached a consensus. It ended up getting worse when various company executives had started calling for the reopening of various parts of the city.
Another point of squabbling had been how to deal with the massive overtime and mammal-hour costs to emergency services. Preliminary estimates showed that this week alone would cost the city triple the normal monthly budget, and it was expected to continue for several weeks to come until the districts could be considered secure and the injuries and savage mammals could be tended to.
What none of the councillors wanted to talk about was the civil lawsuits that were sure to emerge. More than one mammal had threatened to sue the city already for the loss of a loved one, claiming negligence on the part of the city and ZPD, while others were suing for loss of income, loss of or damage to property, and all manner of other reasons.
The mayor turned on the TV again, knowing Chief Bogo had elected to make an announcement today to reveal more details about the previous Friday and their armed response on Saturday. "We now bring you live to the atrium of ZPD's Precinct One, where police chief Adrian Bogo is waiting to speak regarding the events of Friday and Saturday in more detail. This comes after a week of speculation and press releases from the city, along with rumours about the involvement of four Furston Pharmaceuticals employees and the Tundratown City Councillor, all known to be in police custody."
The screen changed to the recognizable lobby of the police headquarters just across the plaza. The chief was already standing at the makeshift podium, gesturing for quiet from the group of rowdy reporters. The fire department chief stood off to the side, likely there for posterity, since this was purely a ZPD matter.
"Ladies and gentlemammals. I thank you for your patience as we continue to work through this trying time together. On Friday last week, domestic terrorists with an anti-predator agenda contaminated the city's water supply with a Night Howler-based toxin after infiltrating the Rainforest District's water treatment plant. This was responded to swiftly by our officers with the assistance of a city utilities employee, shutting down the plant and limiting the spread of the toxin.
"On Saturday, acting on tips from multiple sources close to the organization, we executed raids on all known members of the organization. This, of course, you all know. What I wanted to address was a few of the rumors floating around concerning our informants. One of them, anyways. Marian Wilde approached our officers with information concerning the activities of her boss, James McStripeson. While I can't detail the evidence she put forward specifically, I will confirm that it was independently verified by our detectives and other corroborating evidence—not by her son or his partner, who were not involved. Our actions on Saturday were us acting on this evidence and that provided by another informant who came forward."
The room exploded into questions, and the chief picked a mammal in the front row. The mayor couldn't hear anything the reporter said, but he could see the chief's ear twitch in annoyance. "How do we know the evidence is credible? As I said, all of what we were presented with was independently corroborated by our detectives and the evidence that they have gathered over the last few months."
Another question, and again, the voice was too quiet for the podium microphones to pick up. "Why should we trust the word of a fox? The same reason we trust or don't trust the word of any other mammal. As I said, everything that was brought forward was corroborated by other evidence and statements, so we have no reason to dismiss it."
Still another question. "Well, out of concern for her privacy, I obviously cannot reveal everything, but I can mention the fact that this was a terrorist group with the goal of driving all predators out of the city, and foxes are themselves predators, giving her no logical reason to involve herself with them. Last question, please."
Another muffled question from a mammal near the back. "Very well, I can answer both for you. I do think that Marian Wilde felt comfortable coming forward with her findings because her son is on the force, yes. Far too many mammals, especially marginalized ones like foxes, rats, and weasels, don't feel comfortable coming forward with wrongdoings for one reason or another. As to your question about Marian's employment status, I can't comment on that, and it is private anyways."
Marian Wilde. Somehow, the mayor wasn't surprised to find out she had been one of the mammals who blew the case open. He first suspected it when Marian's name had been dropped in the Sunday morning news, since it seemed odd that a fox would be connected to an anti-predator terrorist organization. Besides, her son was on the force and had been part of the group that took the terrorists down.
As a politician, he knew he had the ability to issue a public pardon, but doing so before the ZPD had a chance to fully process or disclose all the evidence they had from the last week might jeopardize the cases against the mammals who were responsible in some way, or even make the situation worse for Marian, and he didn't want to risk that. Not without consulting with Bogo and his advisors, at least.
The mayor turned to the mountains of reports he had on his desk from various city departments. The stack just never seemed to end.
Marian herself turned off the TV and let out a breath. She wasn't at all comfortable with her name being bandied about so freely, much of the time speculating on her misdeeds by the media. While she was glad Nick's supervisor had gone on the air to set the record straight, and she seemed to have gotten a good lawyer who could work the court system for her, it still left her in a troubled state.
She'd been grateful to have the company of Bert Grizzoli and Elizabeth Fangmeyer throughout the week and had become fast friends with both. Bert was genuinely a nice mammal to have around, often reminiscing about his life on the Pawleutian Peninsula or relating some funny story that happened on the beat. Elizabeth, on the other paw, seemed like an older version of Judy, except where her lost friend Eric was concerned. Even when the tigress was telling a happy or funny story, she would lapse into silence afterward. The vixen remembered the pain of the loss of her mate, so she knew what the tigress was experiencing and let her know that she would be there to listen any time Elizabeth needed.
The vixen was jarred out of her thoughts by a knock on her door. She glanced up at Grizzoli, who checked his phone, perked up, and headed for the entryway, opening the door to allow the lioness detective into the house, along with her son and his doe.
"Nicky!"
The vixen rushed over to envelope her son in a hug, then pulled Judy in to join them, an action that Judy received somewhat gingerly. The vixen reminded herself that the bunny was still injured. Privately, she noted that she was glad the mammal who caused the doe such pain was pushing up proverbial daisies.
She led the way into the kitchen. "So, your boss told the world I was involved in the evidence collection."
Judy rolled her eyes. "Yeah, Nolwazi told us on the way over. Bogo wasn't exactly thrilled about the whole prospect but figured he could feed the press a few crumbs to try and keep them from badmouthing you from here to Deerbrooke."
"So, how was your week, you two?"
A/N
So, after 5 chapters, Nick and Judy finally appear again! Three cheers for our titular duo!
Things have been super busy for me the last couple weeks, but I suppose that should be enjoyed while it can be...you never know when you're going to be the one looking for work.
Check DA or AO3 listings of this story for my Discord server!
No one found any references in the last chapter! Can you find any in this one?
Coming on October 16: Reunited!
Questions? Critiques? Did two little mice accost you for information about a missing boy? Leave a comment!
