Chapter 65: Decision

Stepping inside the premises, Nick immediately noticed the fox waiting in their favourite meeting place. At the window, he watched the front door and when he saw his red and white friend he immediately rose from his chair and spread his arms wide so that he could hug his friend who had recently gone missing after all! Nick smiled at Finnick's reaction and then, of course, the men hugged, Finnick squeezing him probably as hard as he could as Nick felt himself slowly losing access to oxygen.

"Ahh, how good it is to see you Nick! I already thought you were done for! That would have been a real tragedy! Luckily, you probably figured something out as always and managed to escape eh?" Said Finnick cheerfully. The two men settled into their seats and to Nick's surprise, there was already coffee on the glass table.

"Well...I guess you could say that, the groundwork is done and the case on Judy's side and mine is now over... except for one thing," replied Nick.

"Except for one thing? What do you mean?" Finnick asked curiously. The red-haired fox pulled a small, because inconspicuous, blue device out of his pocket, a memory stick they'd gotten from the doctor at the complex where all the action was taking place.

"Do you know what this is?" Asked Nick placing the device on the table top. Finnick picked up the device and looked at it, he had little trouble telling that it was a memory stick - a portable data storage device.

"Well it's a memory stick, but what about it?" Asked a perplexed Finnick. Nick looked around to see if anyone was focusing on their conversation. It was a rather...controversial topic, so it would be better if no one heard the dialogue. Nick moved gently closer to Finnick to speak more quietly so no one would hear.

"This whole operation was managed by my father and helped by my ex, Caroline," Nick said quietly. Just as he had assumed, Finnick was surprised, almost in shock, when he heard this! His questioning gaze was quite clear, so Nick nodded in confirmation of the information.

"Are you serious? How did that happen!" A stunned Finnick asked. His wide-eyed expression made it clear that he could barely believe what he was hearing.

"Quite a long story. The thing is, my father, together with a rather large team, decided to do...a sort of adrenaline shot, but only for the foxes...and they almost succeeded! Luckily we were able to uncover and destroy everything in time," explained Nick. His friend went on to seem confused by what he was hearing, it all sounded so abstract as to be almost impossible!

"Are you sure he's behind all this?" Finnick asked.

"My father is currently in prison. While we were there, I found out everything, where it all started and what the plans were. Those kidnappings, what there were during the last weeks in the Fox Quarter were just a ruse to make sure nobody started snooping in the other direction! Everything was thought out, they almost succeeded, but we managed to get away with the device...Mark was also taken, we promised it would be better for him. The case has already been solved, the police are already catching and locking up all the suspects," Nick explained. Finnick listened intently and looked at the device that lay on the table in front of him. It all sounded rather threatening, but it was a good thing that they had just kidnapped Nick and Judy.

"Okay, but what's it all for?" Finnick asked.

"The injection worked like an adrenaline shot. When you injected it, you were supposed to get more strength, more energy, you supposedly didn't feel any pain afterwards! It was only supposed to work on foxes. They wanted to use it to attack Zootopia and take it over!" Nick explained. It sounded dangerous, and threatening! And shivers went through Finnick's body when he heard about it!

"Wow...well see, then we're surprised that we're criticised among other races" replied Finnick with disappointment. Unfortunately, that was the truth. No one pays attention to the better ones, only to the antics of those who stray from the right path.

"I thought exactly the same thing! We can't be well received as long as we attack others!" Nick explained. They were both aware of what the situation of foxes was among others, no one wanted to trust them, it was almost impossible for someone to trust for a fox! The fox had to prove they were good, no one trusted for foxes for no reason.

"Going back to the memory stick. On this pendrive there is footage of the research that was going on there and it is quite...drastic. Even I as I watched it had shivers! The thing is, if I provide this pendrive to the police Mark...my father will get a life sentence, but if he hides it from them he will get a dozen, maybe up to 20 years in prison. I don't know what to do about it! On the one hand Judy says to leave the flash drive for herself, not to give it away, but I still hate Mark for the past...and then there's the promise that he's changed after which he does something like this! I'm run amok..." Said Nick heavily. Finnick could see his friend was agonising over this, he wasn't surprised, it was a tough decision and he knew Mark and the actions he had committed in the future...however, he was of a different opinion to his friend.

"Nick, even though he is what he is remember he is still your father and no matter how much you wish you could, you won't change that. What he did is cruel and there is no room for forgiveness, but remember, if you make the choice there is no going back," Finnick countered. Nick could hardly admit he was right, no matter how much he wished he wasn't his father, he wouldn't change that.

"So you're also saying not to show that flash drive?" Nick asked.

"Definitely. Be understanding enough to show that at least you're compassionate, don't be the same as Mark," explained Finnick. Nick looked for a moment at the device lying on the table, took it and put it slowly in his pocket. A little bitter at his friend's verdict, because he had hoped that at least he would share his opinion he could not change the decision that had already been made.

"Believe me, sometimes it's worth letting go," said Finnick seeing Nick's unconvinced face.

After a frank and important conversation with Finnick, Nick decided to still go to the police station where Mark was staying with Caroline. He wasn't worried about Judy because, as she had said herself - she would be going home by bus. The sun began to slowly set behind the horizon, the sky turned a gentle red and it got a little colder. The crunching snow underfoot was making its presence known, and it had been snowing for practically most of the afternoon, causing small drifts on the streets again. On the roads there was fortunately no such problem, traffic was moving normally.

Nick was still wavering with the decision Finnick and Judy had offered him, it didn't sound good to him - to hide practically the most important evidence in the case! Yes, they will most likely find test results or other documents, but no one knows what the tests looked like! Nick had seen it and frankly regretted having watched it. He decided not to make a final decision yet, because he was going to go to the police station to clarify the matter with Mark. He got into his car and headed towards the police station.

In front of the police station, as usual, there were a few cars, parked along, nothing extraordinary happening here. Despite the fact that this was the central police station, there was extremely little going on here. One could even venture to say that it was a bit boring here...

Upon entering, the fox was immediately greeted by Clawhauser, who, as always, sat in his seat writing reports and sorting documents. At this hour it was a natural formality. By the monitor, as always, stood an empty doughnut wrapper and on the other side an empty can of drink. Claw sat in concentration typing data into the database, but quickly lost focus when he saw a distinctive red-haired figure.

"Hi Nick, good to see you!" Greeted Clawhauser already since Nick was just entering the building. The fox approached him and gave a friendly handshake to the cheetah.

"Nice to see you too. A day like every other day eh? Empty corridors at this hour, most are on patrol?" Nick asked.

"Well today exceptionally not. After you guys picked up Mark, the guy who ran it, Bogo had most of the officers go to this complex...I don't know if you saw it, but it was in some kind of hospital...something like that. Anyway, our people are securing the area, all kinds of evidence and that kind of thing. Finally, the case is over! It's good that nothing happened to you guys, what a loss it would have been for the police...fortunately it's just speculation, you're okay is the most important thing! " sighed Clawhauser with relief.

"We just didn't get ... caught," replied Nick briefly proudly.

"Fortunately. Bogo was very worried about you guys...what brings you here today? Weren't you supposed to be off?" Asked the cheetah curiously.

"Yes we have, but I need to talk to Mark...can I have a key to his cell?" Asked the fox. Clawhauser looked suspiciously at Nick, but didn't have the courage to ask what he needed the key for. Without letting him out of his sight, he took the golden key from under the desk and handed it to the fox's paws.

"Just be careful, you don't know what it can do," warned Clawhauser.

"I'm sure he won't do anything to me, thanks Claw!" Nick replied, then walked down a level to the detention room.

There was a grave atmosphere in the detention centre, literally. No one spoke to anyone, everyone stared at the walls of the detention centre, or at the windows framed by bars. There was only one detainee, who was humming something under his breath while leaning against the wall. As Nick walked past the detainees, practically every one of them glanced at the fox, watching his every step. Some looked humbly at the fox asking him to let them go, and some looked at him with contempt and hatred - the kind of gaze that advised against going in their direction. Nick ignored them all, he had only one goal - to talk to Mark. As he approached his cell, Nick noticed his, he was sitting with his head facing up, thinking about something - he was thoughtful. He was distracted from his thoughts by the sound of his cell door opening, he noticed his son enter his cell and sit across from him.

"Don't try to do anything, there are cameras in here," warned Nick pointing with his hand at the cameras that were mounted at each cell.

"What's going to happen to me? What about Caroline?" Asked Mark immediately. Nick looked at Caroline, currently asleep. She must have been heavily fatigued by all this, even though she had let herself get caught up in it.

"Caroline will get a couple of years at most for cooperating. I advise you to worry about yourself" Nick communicated. Mark obediently nodded with a movement of his head. He was much calmer than last night, looking as if he had resigned himself to his fate.

"I don't care about sentencing you to life imprisonment, believe me there are more important things than that. Just tell me, if you were to get a life sentence, what would you do before you went to jail?" Nick asked.

"I honestly don't know. After I lost myself in all this it was just me. The rest were a crew I had only business with. I was going to be mayor of the city! It all promised to be so beautiful, the foxes would finally be treated properly...it's a shame it ended like this. I'm on my own Nick, you hate me, those I've been shooting with have already been caught and sent to other detention centres, the only one left is Caroline, but so what. Everyone makes a decision Nick, I took a chance. Even though it didn't work out in the end, I think it was worth the risk. I had nothing to lose," replied Mark. Nick nodded with a movement of his head. He was amazed that his father continued to take pride in his choices, but at the same time he admired it - he wasn't a coward to back down from what he had taken. He knew the punishment was deserved, he didn't hide from it.

"I understand. Let's make a deal, I'm not going to give this flash drive to the police, I'm going to destroy it, but before that..." Nick began as he rose from the ground and opened the cell door. Mark heard looked at his son with a slight smile, sensing that he would not be doomed to a life sentence after all.

"...We need to take a ride somewhere," Nick added. Mark looked perplexed at his son, he didn't seem to quite understand what he meant.

"We have to?" Mark repeated uncertainly. Nick nodded with a movement of his head. Mark picked himself up from the ground, then walked out of the cell. He and Nick walked out to the ground floor where Clawhauser was sitting. When he spotted Mark walking with Nick, the cheetah immediately grabbed the radio, but Nick managed to calm him down.

"Relax my friend, everything is under control. I take responsibility for him," Nick explained. Clawhauser embarrassedly nodded slowly with a movement of his head.

"Back by dawn so Bogo won't notice" Communicated the cheetah.

"It's a known fact. See you later Claw" replied Nick, after which he and Mark left the command post.