Zootopia belongs to Disney; Spider-Man belongs to Sony/Marvel.
The compulsion to make absolutely sure was overwhelming. "Now let me just check everything here..." Dr. Andrews scanned over all of the equipment, all of the materials, the procedure... everything was in place. Having worked in quality control for nearly thirty years, he habitually ensured that all of his endeavors required as few repeats as possible, despite nearly limitless access to whatever he needed. Yvette bristled at the constant checks and rechecks but kept silent. Her excitement helped. "We are ready for the first trial. Assuming we can start it in the first place," said the hyena with a grain of salt. "I only hope we can get the test done in the first place."
"Oh, I can't wait!" his partner gushed, ignoring his apprehension. "More exciting than anything we saw at Oxfield, wouldn't you say?" she bounced lightly on her feet with an ecstatic squeal. "We could get the Nobel for this!"
"Once we put a patent up, then yeah, we probably will."
"Don't get ahead of yourself doctor." A deep, smooth voice echoed throughout the lab, silencing their conversation. Standing in the doorway was none other than the very wolf who had started this whole enterprise from scratch. His sharp green eyes were set squarely on them as he stepped into the brightly-lit lab, his massive frame imposed long, dark shadows across the lab environment. His hands were behind his back in a purely professional posture.
"Sir," said the hyena with a glint of nervousness in his grey eyes, "I thought you weren't coming until we had Danny..."
"How could I stay away? When I heard that Jamie's attempt... it was a good try, but it proved that he's far stronger than even he realizes... we'd have to get him back here somehow. I arrive and, well, there he is, right there in his room." He walked toward the workbench that held the materials and the first complete incarnation of their work in the form of a vial of the mammalian plasma derivative that served as a precursor. "Despite how well events have fallen into place, after what I heard happened during his run and the events of last night, I figured you might need a little supervision, which I feel I'm obligated to provide. So... I brought a little help, a few other laboratory technicians sympathetic to the Oidite Reformers. But before I introduce you to them, phase two is ready?"
Dr. Andrews seemed surprised to hear that they would have extra hands, even relieved. "Yes, sir, we're ready. We're still... preparing for any... problems, I guess you could say, that might arise during or after the experiment."
The Shark snorted with a lopsided smirk. "That is a cause for concern, but I'm confident that you have everything you need in order to carry out this unique endeavor..." He picked up the vial of plasma. The hyena tensed up as he did so, gripping the edge of the table behind him more firmly. He saw through the corner of his eye that Yvette was feeling the same way. If it broke, he'd have to start all over again, when the deadline was today. Lukagi turned his back to the hyena and closely examined the vial in his hand. "You've spent years studying his strength and his genetic purity, and you've expressed little worry - so why should there be a problem? My chief concern is that the test will meet expectations as per the deadline that was set." He turned slightly and set his eyes firmly on the hyena, whose eyes diverted from his.
"It should, sir," he replied quickly.
"It should." He looked back down at the vial of serum, just waiting to be completed. "So. Will the test be a success or a failure? Do you know for sure?"
"There's never a guarantee with science, sir. Otherwise it wouldn't be science. But I'm very positive that it'll only have a partial effect, just like you asked. Like I said, we still need to be prepared."
The Shark set the vial back down. "Then I'm eager to see the results. I'm giving you ten hours to be ready."
"Uh..." stammered Yvette, "b-b-but sir, how are we going to get him down here?" She looked at the metal arms at the back of the lab with discomfort that she immediately buried for her own sake. No going back now.
"Don't worry. He'll be taken care of..." he turned his head as he left to add, "So be ready, the two of you," he finished sternly. "And be prepared to keep him restrained."
"Yes sir, Mr. Lukagi," said Dr. Andrews, trying not to feel anything at the sight of the metal arms embedded into the raised platform in the floor. Though how could he? The very sight of them brought to mind every line of etiquette that he had lived by as a laboratory technician and as a medical doctor. "Just..." The lupine crime lord froze mid-step, causing the hyena to nearly backpedal. "I'm not questioning your orders, sir, but... do we actually... need those?" He loosely gestured toward the cold, ugly appendages.
The Shark slowly approached him until his face was inches way from his own. He shrugged his shoulders and leaned back in response. Zsander Lukagi said in an equally cold, high voice, just above a whisper: "Is there a problem here, Peter?"
The choice was made for him. "No. No. No problem. We'll get it done, sir."
"Good," he said in that same voice before turning and strutting out.
John took a long draw of his cigarette. It had been a while since he'd had one. It calmed his nerves, especially now when he was facing the reality that Danny, the closest thing he had to a son, was really nothing more than a test subject in an experiment. Of course, he'd known that, but... for these seven years, he'd ignored it, pushed it to the back of his mind in the hope that maybe none of this would come.
And it came.
He pursed his lips at the smoking stick before taking another puff. It was so quiet that he could hear the sizzling of the paper and tobacco.
Suddenly, a loud knock on his door tore through the quiet and startled him. The cigarette dropped from his lips and onto his lap. Immediately his sweat pants began to smoke, and the smell of burning polyester assaulted his nose. He managed to pick up the cigarette and pat out the burning ash before his pants caught fire. There was another knock.
Ugh, ahora que? (What now?) "Now is not a good time! I'm very busy, so whatever you need, please submit it in writing and I'll get to it tom-" at that moment, he opened the door and the figure standing before him shut his mouth. A figure he had begun to dread more and more over the course of the past week. "B-Boss..."
The massive wolf scanned him with a mild lopsided smile and a cocked eyebrow. He ducked slightly to step in, forcing John to move out of the way. "The minute space available on your proverbial plate is of little consequence, Serpiento. You still have a job to do, one that you agreed to, if I remember correctly. And this is your last day to deliver your jaguar. We're ready to begin trials. I told you to bring him to the game room, and Kityarn blew that plan out of the water. Pendersen tried to, but... you know. Now, he's conveniently taking a long nap in his bedroom. I figure now it'll be much more expedient to..." he turned toward him with narrowed eyes "...well, I'm sure you understand."
John took a heavy step back. "You... you want me to kill him?"
"No, of course not," he smirked with a raised eyebrow. "Just... incapacitate him."
"I don't think there is a way to incapacitate him, Boss," he said with a small growl to his voice.
"True, Arcturus isn't exactly a normal mammal, is he? But I know you have a few tricks up your sleeve," he answered, turning squarely toward the lion.
John closed his eyes at the thought of the barbarism he was referring to. The thought of using it on Danny... even if he was immune...
He tried to find it in him to resist, to be defiant, but he couldn't. He'd try to stand up to Boss, but then Boss would use his daughter against him. There was no way out. He'd thought that maybe he would have a little more time to think and pony up the guts to... do whatever. But he didn't have that luxury. Now was the time to make the decision. No way out. Now or never.
He inhaled with a moment's hesitation to give the Shark his answer.
"Fine," he said in resignation. "I'll do it. Just... don't hurt him."
"If you do your job, then I will consider it. And I have another task for you afterward."
"How many jobs are you going to give me, Shark?!" he snarled in the wolf's face, who fired right back.
"Maybe I should make the choice for you, Snake!"
John lifted his face to the ceiling in a grimace, resisting any hesitation. He couldn't afford to hesitate, but he didn't know how much more of this he could take. "What's the job?" he asked, his voice cracking in dread.
"There's been a little change of plans. Due to my ignorance of biochemistry, I was unaware that there was a risk of incompatibility between Arcturus and other species, including other Felidae. And there needs to be a great certainty that the serum will do what I want it to do, assuming it isn't lethal in the first place. Therefore, the first test subject..."
John gulped down the rising terror. He already knew the answer.
"...is you."
"N-no, I-" he stammered, trying to think of a way to talk his way out of this. This was so sudden, so unexpected... He'd wanted to have the serum once there was absolute certainty that it was complete. "I th-I thought the one who captured him would be the-"
"Now it's you. I surmised that it's best to reserve the serum for necessary assets-"
"I'm not necessary?!" he shouted.
"No," he answered plainly.
John started to turn around. "Forget it, I'm not putting my life on the line for such a heartless beast!"
"You know, none of us ever got the chance to meet Mrs. Greggor."
John turned toward the hyena, his wide eyes boring into the wolf's. How did he know? He couldn't have! He had severed all ties from his old life when he became a spy! The lion's heart was beginning to pound at the subtle threat, but he felt his blood pressure bottom out at what he said next.
"Don't think for a second that I don't know everything about you, Mr. Valentine. Ignaci Valentine. I've known who you were ever since you started working for me."
"How...?" John asked in a breathy whisper.
"There are... certain advantages to having access to anything you need. And I learned through a little birdie - I'll let your noodle fry over whether it was an electronic or organic source - that you are a father to a lovely microbiologist and housewife by the name of Claire Greggor, husband Dr. James Greggor, a PhD chemist. I don't know about you, but I think a visit is in order; you haven't seen her in, what, fifteen, sixteen years? And - it's so funny - I happened to stumble upon a little tidbit of information. She's spearheading the forensic lab theater of the investigation against my innovation."
There was a lump in his throat the size of a cue ball. It strangled him every time he tried to find the will to fight. How did he know? What used to be anger was now replaced by terror: if he died during the test, he would certainly never see her again. Worse - much worse - there'd be no one to protect her. He'd certainly go after her regardless, since she was an ally of the police who was involved in their investigation of NH-Plus. Now, to add insult to injury, John was now completely expendable to the Shark. How much more so his daughter? But what else could he do? This serum... it may be his one chance. In considering all of this, the only thing he could whisper was, "Fine."
"Good," the wolf responded with a final smile. His eyes narrowed. He was pleased with himself! Rage boiled inside of him but was instantly snuffed out. He was trapped, afraid that no matter what he did, he couldn't protect his daughter. Angered by the fact that she was always one step away from execution, that all it took was one wrong move on his part. Angered that she was the Shark's weapon, and no matter how much he gloated, there was nothing he could do about it.
The Shark felt the shock wave of the door slamming. The moment the door was closed, he deflated somewhat. He couldn't say that he was proud of what he had said to the lion. But he had to. The fate of mammalian kind depended on it.
Judy woke up to the sound of the alarm. Six forty-five... She groaned inwardly. Chief Bogo had placed them on alternating shifts. It was third shift, then first shift, back to third, then a second somewhere in there... it was absolutely crazy, as if the buffalo had given up any semblance of order while settling the biweekly listing of shifts. She looked forward to going back to a more or less regular schedule once this current crime wave was done with. And going to bed at two in the morning after last night's trek was not the most helpful.
"Nick," she said groggily. He didn't respond so she shook his shoulders lightly. "Nick. Wake up."
Then, letting out an adorable whining sound, he wrapped his arms, legs, and tail around her before turning on his side, finishing with a snort. Now she was trapped. Not because she couldn't move, but because he was so comfortable! Plus, she was not eager for the trip to the hospital they would have to make for their little conversation with Rhinowitz and the NH-Plussers from last night. If she could just get out of this unwitting furry trap, this dastardly fluffy trap... Aah!...don't fall asleep, don't fall asleep...
Her ears perked up at an idea that came to mind, one that made her smile deviously. It was a bad idea. A naughty idea. A terrible, awful, naughty idea. Leaning over his cheek, she blew lightly into his ear. It flicked twice, but he still didn't move. She tried it again, and Nick used a paw to rub at it before laying it back where it was. Then, she blew as hard as she could.
He jolted awake, flailing his free arm and lofting the top of the sheet over half of his head. "Agh-ah! I didn't do it! What!" His head swiveled this way and that. His uncovered eye squinted at the bright light filtering through the bedroom curtains. It took him a few seconds to look down at his wife's satisfied grin, her hands resting casually behind her head. "Carrots! What was that?"
"That was your alarm for today, Slick Nickers. Otherwise, I would've been paralyzed until you woke up. But if you want us to keep our jobs, get over it and get dressed, would you?" She jumped down off the bed, stretched with a strained grunt, and left the bedroom.
"Slick Nickers?" he muttered before looking down at his boxers and realizing they were the ones he'd bought recently with a footy design that Judy thought was hysterical. He still had trouble with fashion, apparently. Nick's head fell back down onto the pillow. The desire to stay right where his foxy butt was - oh, it was nearly overwhelming. If only he hadn't stayed up half the night watching movies even after Judy fell asleep. Now he was paying for it. Only one thing could resolve this issue: coffee! He lumbered to the kitchen zombie-style to get the coffeemaker started. But when he saw that there was a mug full of steaming energy already laid out for him, he walked up to her to spin her around and lift her up, swinging her in a circle before smushing her cheek up against his. She couldn't do anything but exclaim at the display of affection. "You're perfect, have I told you that lately?" he asked her.
"No, but you could stand to tell me more. Would you mind putting me down?"
He did so and grasped the mug to take a full gulp before remembering, Oh, coffee is hot, causing him to drain the hot liquid back into the mug without ceremony: "Neh! Nyeh! Ow!" His free hand curled and trembled in pain and his tongue hung out.
She chuckled. "It maaay be a little hot; I just made it."
"Ah keth ah foogah cauth ah wath thuhpwithed," he mumbled, grimacing from the burn on his tongue. Ooh, it was going numb. That was stupid. Really, really stupid!
"Huh?" she snickered with a smile.
After a minute or so, he cleared his throat. His tongue was still a bit numb (and definitely burned) but he could still use it well enough. "I said I didn't think about that because I was surprised you made coffee for me. You never make coffee in the morning."
"Well, we always get it at work or at Snarlbucks, but I thought you might need it, especially while we're working almost back-to-back shifts," she said with a shrug. "You didn't look like you got your beauty rest. And besides, I have to use that coffee maker sometime. I wouldn't want Ben's birthday gift to me to collect dust."
"Beauty sleep? You're not saying this..." he wiggled his fingers down in front of his face "...needs any help, Carrots?"
"Mm..." she hummed.
"You totally hesitated on purpose."
"I'm sure once you wake up more you'll look just like Sleeping Beauty." She sat down to eat her breakfast.
"Sans the sleeping part." He lifted lifted the mug to his chin to cool the liquid power to a bearable temperature before sending it sloshing down his gullet." He then noticed the report on the table, written by Judy. Picking it up, he skimmed through it. "You wrote this last night?" he asked.
"Mm-hm."
"Wow..." he said before taking a drink of his coffee. "Poor kid."
Immediately the spark of energy stored in the caffeine worked its magic on his senses. "Oh, that's good," he said as he took another drink. "Thanks, Car-Bear."
"Care-Bear, that's a new one."
"It's short for Carrot Bear."
"Oh! Ha! I heard it wrong. I thought you meant, like, a caring bear."
"No, I'm never going to abandon 'Carrots,' but it's never too late or too early to try something new. Mm," he said, looking into his mug. "You make the best coffee, by the way. So may the city stand in fear of your coffee powers. Cause they burn like crazy!"
She smiled wider and tapped her fist to the mug. "Clink."
"What was that?"
"Clinking your mug with my imaginary one."
"...Ok. Well go get an actual imaginary mug so we can make an actual imaginary clink, Sweetheart." he said in a semi-playful manner.
"Maybe after work. We're about to get going," Judy said as she got up to grab a bowl, setting an assortment of fruit into it.
"Who's that for?"
"It's for Arya."
"Oh yeah, Arya... I almost forgot she was here."
"You forgot?" She chortled. "Uh, she's practically living here right now, how did you forget that?"
"Oh, well excuse me, Carrots, for having too much on my mind to think clearly at the moment. Besides, we were just talking about how crazy our work shifts are."
"Like what? Actually, hold that thought." Judy grabbed the bowl and walked through the back hallway to the guest room. "Arya?"
There was no response.
"Arya?" She turned the doorknob. "Honey? You in here?"
The room was dark, but when the curtain of light reached the bed, Judy exhaled at the sight of the tiny ewe lamb sleeping in a ball on top of her pillow. Judy's ears fell at how cute she was. Going to her bedroom, she took a medium-size blanket and laid it over her. The lamb stirred and opened one eye.
Judy noticed immediately. "I'm sorry, Arya, I didn't mean to wake you up." She yawned and started to get up. "No, go on back to sleep. Nick and I are about to head to work, so I'll leave this here for when you want to get up, ok?" She showed her the bowl of fruit and then laid it on the bed.
Arya closed her eyes and immediately drifted back. Judy carefully left the room, leaving it slightly open since she wouldn't be able to reach the doorknob.
"How is she?" he asked as he proceeded to write something on a sheet of paper.
She opened her mouth in hesitation, which did not go unnoticed by Nick. She was still looking in the direction of the room in which Arya was sleeping. "Ah, she's fine," she said with a wave. "She's sleeping on her pillow and it's so cute!"
Bunnies, Nick mentally scoffed. They hated being called cute, yet they fed into the stereotype. Figures... He looked at Judy and noticed that she intently seemed to be finishing a brief mental scuffle.
"What's that you're writing?"
"I'm writing a note for Arya and giving her our numbers in case she needs anything."
Judy tilted her head to get a better look. Then Nick slid it over.
It said,
Arya,
We'll be at work until about four or five. There's plenty of snacks in the pantry (explains why I'm so fat). If you need anything, call either of these numbers.
Nick and Judy
"Well, look at you, you big boy!" Her husband shrugged at her compliment and she gave a patronizing face that made her look like she was talking to a five-year-old. "You've grown up so much."
"All thanks to you, babe."
She reached up and kissed his cheek in response. She loved being with her husband, whether they were bantering their fur off or silently... being. Who needed sappy, overemotional romance (even though, heh, there was plenty of that)? All they needed was themselves just as they were. They put their dishes in the sink and finished preparing for work. Jumping in the car, they sped off toward the station.
"Let's see..." said Nick as he pulled up the station's database, showing the names and pictures of the victims of the darting from last night as well as any criminal records. Sheila Caan, twenty-nine, a wolf; Hayden Tearison, thirty-two, a brown bear; Merrill Vulpenn, twenty-seven, red fox; Mary Vulpenn, twenty-seven, red fox; Sarah Kityarn, thirty, ocelot. He nearly exclaimed the last name but wisely refrained. Judy didn't need to know about their... history.
One of the first things that Nick noticed about these animals was that each and every one of them, all of them, had a record. Two of them, Sarah, who he knew, and Hayden, whom he didn't know, had a rather extensive record. The others had only misdemeanors such as drug use or incidents disturbing the peace. His eyebrows furrowed at this detail. He wondered if their rap sheets had anything to do with the targets on their necks. Sarah's, however, was the most extensive: assault and battery, identity theft, cyber theft, regular theft, B&E, arson, armed robbery, trespassing, hacking of all kinds, impersonation of a city official, assault of a city official...
...murder...
Nick's heart dropped as he read down the list, especially as he crossed the more unsavory crimes. While Nick had lived the life of a con, walking the thin line between legal and criminal, Sarah had always remained on the wrong side of the law. Abrasive and impulsive, she almost never hesitated to cross the line, and never back down from a fight. This trait was ultimately the reason Nick broke things off with their partnership. Not that she was all that bad in his eyes at the time, but he didn't want to be associated with her lest she be arrested. And it seemed she had been. For reasons he had yet to find out, he hadn't known about it, either from her or through the grapevine, because he hadn't seen her since. He couldn't wait to see her. She was sure to give him what he needed.
They clocked in and passed by the bullpen to say hi to their colleagues, where as usual Bogo began passing out regular assignments. Immediately afterward, they headed over to the hospital to continue their case.
The constant beeps made Judy press her ears to the back of her head unconsciously. The who way through the hospital, they passed various mammals wearing various colors of scrubs going on with their jobs - radiology technologists pushing portable x-ray machines, nurses attending to patients, lab techs walking and reading clipboards, surgeons going to or from surgical procedures... Judy found it all very distasteful, even in the face of its necessity for day to day life.
Nick and Judy walked toward the information desk to find out where their vics were.
Suddenly, a large rolling shelf came around a corner and nearly ran over Nick, forcing him to stumble out of the way and fall to the floor. "Hey, watch where you're going!" Judy virtually shouted to the young, college-age feline custodian pushing the shelf, who towered over them.
The young feline's eyes widened at seeing whom she had nearly squished. She held her hands up toward them. "Sorry! Sorry!"
Nick groaned as he got to his feet and dusted himself off. "It's ok, Sweetie. I was actually trying to cheer her up with a bit of slapstick violence. Didn't work out like I'd hoped, so can we give it another try?"
The cat stifled a giggle in relieved hilarity at the offhand joke, but she held back her laugh for the sake of the bunny. Nick snorted a chuckle and that set her off. "Thanks for that," she said, "this morning's been a hard one."
"Ah, well glad to make it better." He saluted her with two fingers as they continued down the hall, where they approached an elevator. He noticed Judy was still a little tense and tried to calm her nerves by giving her a chaste single pat on the shoulder. "Calm down, it was just an accident."
Judy pressed the up button to summon an elevator and groaned while watching a custodian on a ladder cleaning some kind of shiny glob off of the ceiling that appeared to reflect light perfectly to the point that it could have been mistaken for a light in itself. "I still hate this place," she muttered.
The elevator door opened and the two stepped into the car.
"Ah, bunnies and hospitals. They do not bring on the binkies, do they, Carrots? I'll never forget that poor nurse you kicked when he was suturing your cut after we got out of the Natural History Museum. Now that was just too funny."
She elbowed him lightly, less in anger, more in banter. "He was butchering me, Nick! Didn't even give me any anesthetic. Besides, you thought I was bad? I seem to remember that day a few weeks before you left for the academy when you learned you had to get an annual rabies shot, and I saw a big, bushy fox tail sticking out from under the bed after hearing that you were about to get it right then. I had to deal with your gekkering the whole time as I pulled you out and wrestled you to the floor to get you to take the stupid shot. You're just like thirty percent of my siblings," she said, though not without a chortle.
"Only thirty percent?"
They called out a few more hospital-related quirks as they rode the elevator up to the surgery department, where the rhino was due for surgery on his wrists in about three hours. Wolfard had already gone home after having his broken nose reset. Nick pulled her close as they stepped out of the elevator car and kissed the top of her head. "You're too much fun, you know?"
"I know," she replied, moving away from him. "Not here, Nick, we're at work."
"Oh, come on, it's not like we're gonna do anything like 'Get a room,'" he said, making air quotes for the last three words.
"Inappropriate!" she grated under her breath while elbowing him hard.
He did his best to hide the fact that her elbow hurt. "I'm a fox, what'd you expect?"
Judy decided to change the subject. "We're just about there."
They strutted toward the door behind which was the surgery department, where the rhino was in pre-op. They found Rhinowitz in a hospital bed on wheels behind a curtain and already wearing a hospital gown with a blanket covering his waist. An IV was inserted into his left anterior elbow. He looked up from a book he was reading to see the fox and bunny.
"Well, look at you, buddy. Having fun yet?"
Rhinowitz closed his eyes with a shake of his head. At the same time, he placed his bookmark into the book and set it aside, along with his reading glasses. "Good to see you too, fox." Judy was about to say something but he beat her to it. "Chief already let me know you were coming. Let's go ahead and get to it so I can put this all of this behind me and I can make it back to work with in peace."
"And in one piece," Nick quipped with a finger gun pointed at him.
Judy snorted and the rhino plastered an unamused scowl on his wrinkly mug. "Just get started with the stupid Q&A, would you?"
"Sounds good," said Judy as she removed a notepad and her carrot pen. She sat down on the swivel chair, the one she always wanted to spin on when she was a little kitten, and found herself suddenly feeling the desire to do so now. "We read your report, by the way."
"What'd you think?"
"I think your report deserves a Pulitzer," interjected Nick.
"N-no, I meant what did you think of the story and the footage? You saw it, right?"
"We saw it," said Judy. She had this subtle look of discomfort at the discussion. "It... it was kinda strange, to say the least," said Judy with unease.
"Oh yes, I know," said the rhino with a more serious look.
"I think it's safe to say that you didn't embellish anything," said Nick. "Of course if the vid hadn't been available, I think everyone except you and maybe Wolfard would've said otherwise."
"Unfortunately, I don't think that's far from the truth at all, Wilde."
"So," Judy began, "this kitten..." Rhinowitz nodded his permission to ask her questions. "Just... how did...? I'm not quite sure how to begin."
"Heh, I don't think any of us do, rabbit. It was pretty shocking for me as well, given that a kitten roughly an eighth of my size handled me like a rag doll. That poor elephant's pants were soaked by the end of it."
"Is there anything that the video may have missed that we need to know about?"
"I think the video had everything we needed. I mean, someone at that age who can restrain a rhino... shew, especially one who can lift two tons" he exhaled seriously. "I feel sorry for anyone who gets in his way."
At that, Judy stopped writing altogether. Slowly, she looked up at her coworker with muted shock in her eyes, and her mouth was open. Looking at Nick, he was about the same as her. He looked down at her, then back at the rhino. "Two tons?" asked Nick with a look that bordered on incredulity. Judy mirrored the look.
He nodded grimly. "Yeah."
"...And... a kitten did this to you?..." asked Judy.
Again, Nick and Judy looked at each other with a mounting sense of dread. The two of them were aware that Rhinowitz was among the strongest mammals in the city, but it had not truly occurred to them that he was that strong until this very moment.
He didn't respond but nodded gravely.
Maybe Nick was right. How would they be able to overcome someone that powerful? Where did this mammal even come from?
"Something I should probably bring up, that Chief asked me to tell you..." he said.
"What is it?" asked Judy.
"Ok, here we go. I'll give you the summary. One of the NH-Plus victims ran away last night. He left the hospital alone, and he seemed pretty eager to get out. Anyway, get this," he glanced at the two lovers/detectives, "he jumped off the top of the parking garage last night."
"What?!" both Nick and Judy exclaimed.
"Yep," he nodded. "Landed on a van, apparently. But the weird thing is, somehow the van ended up on its side, with the driver's door caved in, rather than the roof."
"That... doesn't make any sense," said Nick, glancing at Judy then back at Rhinowitz.
"Hey, it's just what I saw on the news and what Bogo asked me to tell you in case you didn't know. And it was clear you didn't know, so I'm telling you now. And get this: it was a black jaguar." He lifted his eyebrows in emphasis.
Judy gulped. She had just met that jaguar last night. "So, is the body in the morgue?" asked Judy gravely.
"There was no body. He was gone."
Neither of them had anything to say to that.
"Wouldn't be surprised if that were the same kitty that turned my wrists into party balloons."
Judy realized she had ceased writing notes and quickly scribbled down a few choice words to keep in mind. "Ok..." she said in something resembling a daze "...thanks." With that, they turned to leave.
"'Hey, good luck with your surgery, Harold; hope you get better, big buddy,'" quipped Rhinowitz sarcastically as they left.
Judy mulled over this information in her head, which rapidly began to ache from the overload of information. This whole case was almost too much to handle. Deciding she'd sort it out later, she suddenly remembered she'd intended to make a call that morning.
"I'm not sure what to think about that," said Nick as they were led to the next room containing a certain patient by the name of Sarah. Of course, he was referring to their interview with Rhinowitz. "Still think we can take him in?"
"Shut up," she deadpanned. They were silent until they made it to the door of the room, where Judy and Nick's radios crackled briefly.
"Wilde."
Judy answered first. "Yeah, Gaines, come back. Over."
"We got a 10-86 near your location. ZFD might need a little help. Could be arson, over."
Nick answered this time. "On our way."
"Uh, actually," said Judy both into her radio and to her husband, "I'll take this one. You go on ahead with this next vic."
"Uh, not happening, I'm coming with you."
"Uh, no, you and I can deal with both at the same time. Trust me, I'll be fine."
"Honey, please. We can come back and do this later."
"Nick, do you trust me or not? I mean, what's the problem?" she shrugged. Then she shook her head, saying, "Look, I'm going. Get done with this vic and then come meet me." As she finished, she turned and ran down the hallway, alerting all frequencies that she was en route to the fire before asking for the location.
Unbeknownst to the rabbit, or seemingly so, was the fox's hurt expression. Her question had hurt. Very much. Suddenly, he was fighting off the urge to berate Judy under his breath. Seriously, what was going on with this bunny? He didn't trust her? Why would that be the case?! Arson was becoming commonplace, and firefighters were being shot in the line of duty while performing their jobs. Most strangely, none of the shooters were ever caught.
"All right, I'll wait for you," he said aloud even though she'd already left. "Just don't take too long. We have a case to solve here." Going to the door to the patient's room, he turned the knob to speak to the patient inside. "Just be careful, Judy," he whispered before opening the door.
John turned the doorknob as quietly as possible. If he woke up, then that would be the end of it. A part of him actually considered that, but the rest of him smashed the thought. He had no choice.
Setting down small, disc-shaped device about half the size of his palm, he pressed a button and closed the door quietly. A red light blinked, faster and faster for a few seconds before releasing an opaque gas into the air. John would have to wait an hour before the gas cleared.
Pure rohypnol.
The world's most powerful sedative.
Lethal enough to kill twenty small felines at this dose, with the sole exception of the boy he was using it against.
His heart tore in half at the sight of the gas beginning to leak through the crack at the bottom of the floor. He walked away to let the gas do its work, and he didn't hear a peep from Danny. I'm sorry...
The smoke rose into the sky, appearing as if a storm cloud had descended onto the apartment complex. Dark orange flames danced in and out of view of two of the windows on the left side. The right side was relatively untouched, but the fire was spreading fast.
The ZFD was just arriving - jacketed firefighters poured out of the two trucks and proceeded to do what they were trained to do: fight fire with water. Judy's superior hearing picked up the voice of their superior as he barked orders. She was glad the apartment had been close to the hospital, close enough for her to run here in less than five minutes, so that she could provide security, and so that any injured could be transported to the hospital quickly.
She unconsciously unlatched the strap of her holster, which held her pistol. She marched up to the captain, who was giving instructions to a pair of canines who had just escaped the building. The firefighters were beginning to infiltrate the building while others were opening hydrant valves to hurl water into the apartment, aimed at the fire within.
"Sir," she said with an air of authority with her arms crossed.
The lion turned and looked around for a second. Judy finally cleared her throat and he looked down. His hard features, featuring prominent age lines that were imposed into the fur, suddenly softened. "Officer Hopps. I can't tell you how glad I am to see you. You're here to help?"
"Yes, sir, I was asked to keep an eye out."
"Very good. Keep an eye out on our six, would ya?"
"Sir," she said with a nod. She proceeded to walk to the side of the yard and direct curious pedestrians on their way who were eager to see the action, at the same time keeping her head on a swivel for any suspicious activity. Pretty soon, other officers began to show up and assist.
As time went on, and the site grew calmer, she felt now would be a good time to call Arya's foster parents. Ben had given her their number at her request the night before. She mused to herself that while Claw wasn't at the front desk anymore, he was still more than willing to provide a little service every now and again. For reasons she still couldn't figure out, she'd put it off until today, and still felt herself fighting against it. But she had to. For Arya's sake.
She had to force herself to type in the number and press the call button. A male voice answered on the second ring.
"Hello?"
Keeping her voice quiet, she said, "Hi, am I speaking with Mr. Tod Nichelle?"
"...Yes?" he answered cautiously.
"This is Detective Judith Hopps, ZPD. I'm calling to inform you that your daughter, Arya, is staying with me at the present time and-"
"...call again," his voice cut her off.
"I'm-I'm sorry?"
"I said please don't call again." Having said this, she heard the two beeps that indicated that the call had ended. Slowly removing the phone from her ear, her eyes flitted around briefly in confusion.
Trying to fight the sense of outrage rising in her chest, she punched in the number again and put the phone back to her ear. But she heard the same two beeps, meaning the sheep had ended the call without even picking up.
Judy dropped the phone from her head and held it as if weighing it, tapping the back with her index finger in thought. It didn't make sense. Had she called the wrong number? No, because he had confirmed his identity. Had she said something wrong? She couldn't have; all she did was inform him of his daughter's current whereabouts. He had willingly turned her away. Why?
Sitting down on the curb, she pondered these questions. The moment she decided to honestly consider the facts, it started to make sense very, very fast. And the foul conclusion sat in her stomach like a rotting fish: They had left Arya in that train station, and they weren't coming back. They were leaving her for good.
"Oh, Arya..." she exhaled quietly in sorrow for the sweet little girl.
Instinctively, her hand went to her firearm immediately at the sight of a porcupine aiming something at her from across the street. She tensed up, about to draw, but kept herself under control. She willed her hand to loosen, and at the same time the porcupine pretended to fire. Afterward, he ran off, the barrel of the fake gun pointed upward as if he were a bad little punk.
Judy sighed with her belly to ease her nerves.
The door opened to a dimly lit room. A refreshing cool draft flowed past his muzzle from inside and he stepped in, where an empty bed sat next to the wall around the corner. Another bed was hidden behind a curtain. A large, brown foot stuck out from behind it, twitching slightly and curling in and out.
Walking around the curtain, Nick came face-to-face with a bear who was currently gnawing on the corner of his pillow. The corner of his mouth and his eye were twitching incessantly and he grunted quietly like a kind of cave bear. Nick took a deep breath, not in disappointment, but from the sliver of horror at the memory that the sight before him brought to the surface. Ben... the difficulty with which he recovered from his horrendous experience. He had learned the day that the cheetah was hospitalized that NH-Plus, a variant of the original serum, had exploded onto the streets from nowhere. Unlike the original, however, when NH-Plus poisoning was treated, the amygdala, the part of the brain that controlled fear, was temporarily overstimulated. Doctors still didn't know why. Their fear then drilled the memories of their experience deep into their mind, which only added to their trauma. Ben was no exception. At that moment, an otter squeezed past him to attend to the bear.
"He'll be all right," she said. "It'll just take a while."
Nick nodded. "I know."
The next three patients were much the same, at varying degrees of terror and shock, though none of them were coherent. His hope withered further and further with every vic, despairing that he would be able to get any info out of them. At last, he stood before Sarah's door. This would be a hard one. It was one thing to see just any mammal at a level that low; it was another to see an old friend like that. Without thinking, he cleared his throat. This was gonna be awkward. Cringing, he turned the knob and peeked carefully into the room.
The first thing that he noticed was that the ocelot was in surprisingly better condition than the others. She made not a single sound, nor movement. Her back rested against the backboard, her shoulders slumped. Her eyes were fixed on a point in front of her as if she were in deep contemplation. Though there were lines explicitly drawing invaginations in her fur, making her look a decade older, her eyes still expressed a youthful lucidity. He found himself almost in awe of the woman - a picture of fortitude, much like his wife.
"Hi there, Sarah," he said to grab her attention. She turned her face toward him and he smiled in a welcoming way. She looked just the way she did the last time he saw her, minus the air of apathy and exhaustion. She was very beautiful: light cream-brown fur with a multitude of fuzzy dashes of dark in the mix, that then evolved into spots down the front of her neck; a slightly large maxilla complemented by a large mandible, giving her muzzle a triangular shape; large and angular eyes bearing a dark brown eyelash design at each outer edge that tapered to an upwardly curved point.
Though she looked moderately surprised, her expression went back to where it was before. "Hey, Nick, what's up?" was all she said, in a raspy voice.
He chuckled somewhat awkwardly. "I haven't seen you in... it's gotta be going on ten years."
"Eleven, actually," she corrected weakly. "I was nineteen the last time we..." She hesitated.
Nick switched gears for a moment to help her stay focused. "Have you seen Finnick lately? I've been meaning to message that old geezer for a while now."
Sarah's smile broadened ever so slightly. "I saw him yesterday... hustling as always," she finished with a brief laugh. "He's kinda lost his finesse. And... I guess you have too. You don't seem as... well, fun anymore, I think. You could light up a room instantly in the old days."
"Well," he shrugged, "I grew up. I was a twelve-year-old kid for twenty years, but better late than never, right? A cute little bunny straightened me out."
"You're not supposed to call bunnies cute, you know," she said with a snort.
"Yep. Don't care." Both of them laughed. "Sarah," he began, recalling his mind to the task at hand. He lifted his jacket and showed his badge. "I need to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind."
As soon as she saw his badge, Sarah turned her face away from him. All hints of a smile had vanished and she seemed to be pretending he wasn't there.
"Sarah, I need you to work with me. We need to know who poisoned you and your friends so we can find the ones who did it and bring them in. Can you tell me what happened last night in your own words?"
Sarah shrugged suddenly as though the very mention of the night before caused her physical pain. She swallowed and remained still. Then she took a deep breath and said in a voice with a faltering voice, "I'd rather not talk about that... and I don't talk to cops." Nick frowned at the bitterness in her statement.
"Listen... I know the police are the last mammals you want to talk to, and I know you're not in any shape for it right now. But any information you could give me, anything at all, is helpful. Please." She didn't respond. Instead, she turned her face slowly toward him slightly, her bottom lip trembling and her face tightening into a mask of grief. Covering her eyes, she cried. Nick's heart swelled with sympathy for the young cat. He laid his hand on her shoulder.
"Is Danny ok?" she asked past a lump in her throat, constricting her voice further.
"Danny? I'm... I'm not sure who you're referring to."
She looked up at him. Tear tracks ran down her cheek fur. "I'm sure your friends told you, didn't they? After what happened last night? The black panther kitten? Ring any bells?" she asked more forcefully.
"Oh, yes! I read about that this morning. He's immune to Nighthowlers, right? Kinda scares me, to be honest. I can't be sure, but I was told that a kitten somehow broke out of here last night. Maybe that's him?"
Sarah immediately threw the covers off of her and grasped the IV inserted into her arm.
"Whoa, whoa, Sarah, what the h-!"
Without so much as a hint of pain, she ripped the needle from her flesh, sending a spurt of blood briefly splashing from the vessel and leaving a stain on her gown. She got out of the bed and wiped away the moisture from the fur on her cheeks with a sniffle, marching toward the door.
"Where are you going?!"
She tore off the gown in front of him, leaving herself fully exposed, causing Nick to look away and blush. She began to put her own clothes on. "I'm going to look for him. I want to see if he's ok."
"Hold on," he said. "You can't just leave, you're still getting all of that crap flushed out of you." She shoved him out of the way but otherwise didn't respond, which he took as permission to accompany her for the moment. Or at least she tolerated his presence. "Sarah, if you know where he is, then tell me and we can take care of it."
"I'm not telling the police jack!" she retorted as she strode down the hall past staff and patients who were wise enough to part and let her through.
He followed her to a nurse's station, where a nurse was communicating with a patient. "I need information," she said authoritatively.
The patient looked at her with annoyance while the nurse, a male cheetah, turned around. "I'll be with you in just a second, ma'am." The way the cheetah spoke made the ocelot's eyes narrow. He turned back around and continued his conversation. Nick, meanwhile, kept a close watch on her.
She snapped her fingers a few times. "Hey! I need some info - i.e. now."
"Ocelot, go find another nurse or something!" said the patient a little loudly.
"How about I give you a buttful of foot, you little-"
"Officer," he addressed Nick, can you please take care of this oh!..." The cheetah was cut off by the ocelot, who gripped his collar and pulled him down to her level, causing the patient to back against the wall. Nick was too shocked to move for a moment.
"Give me what I asked for, you piece of sh-"
"Sarah!" Nick shouted, grabbing his nightstick. "Get down on the floor, now. I'm not going to say it again."
"Oh really!" she grated sarcastically. "We had a fun little reunion just now. What happened?" The cheetah breathed rapidly, looking with wide eyes between the fox and the ocelot.
Nick hesitated, wondering if this was the NH-Plus making her do this. She was never this aggressive when he knew her.
The nurse broke the silence. "Look, I'll give you what you want to know. Just... just let me go, ok?" Sarah looked at Nick, who seemed to hesitate. But then, curiosity getting the better of him, he nodded a single time.
Sarah looked at the cheetah, fury still furrowing her brow. "Daniel Arcturus. Look him up." He typed with one hand, the other held up. "Arcturus, you idiot! A-R-C-T-U-R-U-S!" He cringed and corrected it, while Nick had to keep himself from laughing. But when he entered the name, nothing came up. "Try Daniel Rigel," she commanded. "R-I-G-E-L." He did, and a short report and a list of stats appeared. Sarah's features softened. "Danny," she whispered. She hopped onto the machine that held the monitor and skimmed the report. "Room 235."
"Uh, something you should know..." he said quietly.
"What?" she asked angrily, not taking her eyes from the screen.
"He... he jumped off the building last night."
"He... jumped off the building," Nick repeated, more of a statement than a question. "And... where is he now?"
"No one knows," the cheetah shrugged. "He just disappeared!"
Sarah looked up from the screen with wide eyes. "Where's room 235?" she asked.
"Down the hall there," said the cheetah. The ocelot leapt off of the monitor and ran down the hallway.
The nurse stayed where he was, his heart still pounding. The patient he was talking to was long gone. He wondered if he should still call security or go on and pretend nothing had happened.
"Sarah!" called Nick after her. Managing to keep up with her for the most part, she came to the room and practically kicked it down.
"Danny?" she called out as the door opened, only to come to an empty room. Nick stood behind her, looking into the empty room that confirmed the rumors. She stared off into space and for a moment, Nick thought she was going to have a nervous breakdown from the NH-Plus poisoning.
"He went back there," her voice strained out. "Danny, no...!" she sobbed, almost in anger, almost in horror.
"Where?" asked Nick. "Where did he go?"
"I have to get out of here!" she said, still covering her muzzle, still weeping, as she began jogging down the hall.
"Now hold on!" said Nick as he followed after her. "Back where?! Where are you going?"
"I'm gonna find him," she said in a half-growl, half-sob, racing down the hall.
"Sarah," Nick said as he caught up to her, reaching out to grab her shoulder. "I know you're distressed and confused- unh!" he exclaimed as she grasped both sides of his jacket and with a grunt forcibly directed his back through a bathroom door, which opened upon impact. She shoved him into the space of the empty restroom. The surprised fox gripped his baton once more, ready for a fight.
"Listen, Wilde," she began threateningly, "I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt, since you weren't one of the twerps who framed me and tried to give me life in a hellhole. But I am telling you to mind your own business," she growled, inserting an expletive.
"I am minding my own business; this is my business. Your safety is my concern, and so is the safety of this kid you're looking for. If he's in trouble, let's get the ZPD involved. We can help."
"No! I'm never going to trust the police because they're useless and heartless." She virtually sobbed the last word, bitterness lacing every syllable.
"Believe me, I know what you're talking about, but-"
"No you don't! You never will! Just leave me alone!" She turned around to leave and Nick impulsively ran forward to grab her arm.
She turned and deftly used her foot to collapse his knee forward, causing him to fall onto it with a grunt. Why do they always go for the knee! he screamed inwardly. She took his baton and tossed it away as well as his radio before whirling around to his back and wrapping her arm around his neck. She squeezed to cut off his carotid. He clawed at her arm, grunting to break free. "Still have a few lessons to learn, Wilde. Mind if I give you one?" Nick grunted and twisted in her grip in an attempt to break free. Just as he began to feel lightheaded, he drove his nails hard into her ear. Sarah shouted, and her arm loosened. He swept her leg and they both went down, but she let him go, allowing him to deliver an elbow into her cheek. Sarah kicked up, but Nick rolled onto his side and began to stand, giving Sarah ample time to and kick for his head, which he barely blocked. She delivered one skillful blow after another. Nick, still recovering from her headlock, was barely able to keep up.
"I have a feeling this has a lot to do with the fact that I broke up with you," he said as he blocked her strikes.
"Get over yourself!" she hissed, suddenly becoming more aggressive. He managed to work his way over to the wall, where he stepped out of the way as she lunged. He then managed to deftly cuff her wrist to the hand rail attached to the wall. She looked at the cuffs and then up at Nick with a look of sheer incredulity.
Nick chuckled. "It's called a hustle, Sweet-hah!... ah..." he groaned as she punched him, causing him to stumble backward. Sarah then lifted her foot above her head in an arc that culminated in bringing it down atop the bar, breaking it from the wall. She then slid the cuffs from the bar.
A few minutes later, the smaller bathroom door opened, and a mouse wondered in, stopping instantly at the sight of a crazed ocelot holding down a fox with her weight and choking him, while the fox held her wrist away to keep her from scratching him with her claws. Both looked at him, and Nick stopped gagging.
"Oh! Sorry," the mouse said before scurrying out.
They turned back to each other and Nick continued gagging and holding her claws away. Nick honestly wondered how she had gone from so calm when he had first walked into that hospital room all the way to trying to dice him to pieces.
"Just give up, would you?! Then I won't have to mutilate you!" In response, he grasped her tail and yanked as hard as he could. She yowled and let go. Nick coughed and breathed deeply. She took advantage of the moment to flee the restroom. Little did she know, however, that Nick had clasped something to her tail without her noticing.
Again, he thought as he coughed, it's called a hustle, Sweetheart.
Her eyes opened from a very peaceful sleep to a dimly-lit room. The light was low enough to dim her perception of the color of the walls. It suggested that it was still early morning. But that couldn't be right. Rolling over in the bed, she saw that the clock read 8:37. It then became clear that the reason the light hadn't changed was the blinds covering the windows.
Sitting up, she carefully descended the bed and grabbed the edge of a curtain to pull it to the side. It was a bit difficult due to her small size but the curtain gave way. The rings attaching the curtain to the bar just above the window made a metallic sound as they slid across it. Sure enough, bright light flooded the room and forced her to squint.
She was glad to get up at a proper time rather than later. That would've been rude.
Her stomach growled. Well, time for breakfast, she thought. Though the thought of eating the food of someone else didn't exactly feel... safe. She didn't live here.
Yet? She shook her head. Don't get your hopes up. You made that mistake before and look where it got you.
Turning back around, she spotted the bowl Judy had set on the bed earlier. Oh! She'd completely forgotten about that. Taking the bowl off of the bed and going through the door, she walked around a little, exploring more of the house. She hadn't seen much of the house yet. There still wasn't much motivation to do anything, really.
Carrying the bowl under her arm and munching on an apple, she stepped out of the room into the hallway. The room was at the very end of the hall, with the door on the side. Adjacent to her room was a bathroom, and adjacent to that was another bedroom. She turned left do more exploring.
The house was very modest in appearance. All the walls were painted a simple white with a tinge of yellow, giving off a sense of humble vibrancy. She came to a large, open room on the left with a sofa and a coffee table. A recliner sat in the corner, kind of like the one her foster dad - the first one, that is - sat in every night when he got home from work. She set the bowl down and climbed up in it and rocked back and forth a few times. It felt different from what she was familiar with.
Sliding off of the chair and picking up her bowl again, she looked around at the pictures on the walls, noticing immediately that there was a certain pattern. She counted only five picture frames in the room. On the bottom of each frame was a date carved into the smooth wood, and the dates went chronologically from left to right. Strangely, the fifth was empty. She figured that the pictures depicted important events.
To the farthest left was a depiction of Judy and Nick sitting at a small table at a restaurant. The date was December 17, 2016. Judy wore a casual t-shirt and jeans while Nick wore an ugly combination of a lime-green Pawaiian shirt with a blue striped tie and khaki pants. Judy was holding a creased sheet of paper up to the view of the camera, using both hands to keep it straight. From where she was standing, she could barely tell that the letter started with, "Nicholas Piberius Eliezer Wilde, we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into the Zootopia Police Academy..." That was all she could discern from the letter. She shimmied to the side to view the next picture.
June 6, 2017. The picture was of Nick, Judy, and a lot of other mammals wearing police uniforms. All of them stood in a field of grass, saluting the camera. A wide smile was on the face of each. Nick and Judy's team, it appeared. She shimmied to the next one.
June 30, 2018. "Aaaaw!" cooed Arya at the third image, which was of Judy being carried by Nick bridal style. The former was wearing an elegant strapless wedding dress that appeared to be a two-piece. The top part was a wide ribbon smoothly wrapped around her breast and the small of her back, and the bottom portion was essentially a skirt that reached to cover her feet. A rhombus-shaped opening exposed a portion of her light belly. The fox donned a yellow dress shirt with a light green sport coat and matching dress pants. The tie was blue with red stripes. It seemed to be reminiscent of the outfit he wore in the first photograph, the ugly one. This outfit was better looking by far. One of Judy's arms was wrapped tightly around the fox's neck while the other was pressed against his cheek. Their lips were pressed together in passionate bliss. Arya grinned at the image. This was officially her favorite picture in the house.
August 1, 2018. The fourth showed Nick and Judy in their front yard. Judy had a wide smile on her face, and she leaned her head against the side of Nick's chest while her hand loosely wrapped around the back of his waist. Nick's free hand rested on her shoulder. Based on the fact that Nick was holding a piece of paper that said, "Deed," that must have been when they bought this house.
She moved to the fifth frame, which stood empty, wondering exactly what it would hold. She imagined still frames of the big event that would come next in their lives, immortalized in this frame... one of them becomes Chief; they catch the culprit of this current crisis; they start a family...
Her hand curled inside the bowl, looking for any remaining fruit, but it was all gone. She set the bowl down and turned toward the big bookshelf. Though the top two shelves were too high for her to clearly see what was on them, she could see the ones below those. And what she saw was a motley assortment of... well, random stuff. There was that tie that Nick had been wearing in a couple of the photos, neatly folded. A little booklet. A faded red piece of cloth that seemed to have a deep red stain on it. A can of... FoxAway?! Why would they have that? It seemed really out of place on the shelf. She'd have to ask about that. Aside from those items, everything else seemed like normal decorations, like ornaments, Nick and Judy's individual diplomas, a plaque for each of them that said "Detective..."
Arya realized she was still hungry. As if to confirm it, her stomach growled. Maybe she could try to make something in the kitchen. Or she could get a snack...
Going into the kitchen, she wondered if she should be touching anything. This wasn't her house, after all. She wished she could ask them if she could make something. She climbed up onto the couch and her hand landed on a sheet of paper. Once she managed to get on the couch, she read what was on it.
Arya,
We'll be at work until about four or five. There's plenty of snacks in the pantry (explains why I'm so fat). If you need anything, call either of these numbers.
Nick and Judy
"Oh!" she said enthusiastically, followed by a giggle as she re-read the part about Nick being fat. Not that he was; he actually looked really skinny to her. Maybe he was just fat by fox standards?
Eager to get something else to eat, she hopped down from the couch and searched the pantry. She didn't know what to pick. There were cans of various fruits and vegetables. OH! GREEN BEANS! One of her favorites! She knew what she was having. Looking at the can, she quickly realized there was no way to open it. Where was the... She'd cooked before but the cans she used always had that little tab. She went to the sofa to snatch the paper. Pulling out her cell phone, she dialed Judy's number. The line rang six times until:
"Sorry, I'm busy detecting right now. But when I get the chance to call you, I'll hop to it. Wilde, out."
She tried again but it was the same thing. After trying Nick's number ("Wilder of the two Wildes here! I'll get back to you in a hot second. Just leave a message there at the second beep. Beeeeeeep."), she set the phone down with a huff. Oh well, at least she'd had that fruit. If she wasn't so bored... she slumped onto the couch and closed her eyes. Her mind drifted off.
Danny's eyes felt very heavy. Actually, his whole body felt heavy. And he felt like he was spinning. How long had he slept? It felt like he'd been asleep for two days. He probably needed it after everything that had happened to him recently. Slowly, he opened his eyes to a brightly-lit room that was abuzz with activity. Several blurry mammals milled about, weaving around a bunch of stuff that he was unfamiliar with.
"Ah! you're awake!" said a loud, familiar voice. Danny blinked a few times to get rid of the fogginess and looked up to see the Shark himself grinning down at him. "Have a good sleep?" he asked with a smile that made Danny feel extremely uneasy. He hadn't known that he was coming. Usually he announced his arrival. He lifted his arm to wipe his eye - or he tried to. He couldn't lift it. In fact, he couldn't move. What? Looking down, Danny saw that he was held in place and restrained by a quartet of thick metal arms attached to a kind of short pillar embedded into the floor. They restrained his arms and legs with unyielding firmness, keeping his arms immobilized across his chest and his legs bent in a kneeling position. A claustrophobic sensation enveloped him instantly.
"W-what's happening?" he asked with a tremulous voice.
"What's happening is the fulfilment of your purpose, my friend," came the answer from the leopard with a kind of sick, giddy sarcasm behind the voice.
Terror filled his chest. He cried out as he struggled to escape. But he couldn't. "What's happening! What's happening!" he cried as he began to thrash. But the arms didn't budge an inch no matter how hard he pressed.
The leopard snorted. "Don't bother. Those arms were based off a design built specifically to reinforce the world's most powerful magnet. It'll withstand between eight and ten thousand pounds of pressure."
Danny blinked in confusion. He finally saw, standing off to the side, his friend, his caretaker, John Serpiento.
He opened his mouth and said in a tight voice, "John! What's happening? Que pasa? Haz algo, sacadme de aqui!" (What's happening? Do something, get me out of here!) He didn't look at him. In fact, no one was looking at him. Everyone seemed to be doing their best to keep their eyes off of him.
"Deja de hablar," John said. The Shark turned toward him with an angry look on his face. (Stop talking.)
"John! Que esta pasando?! Ayudame!" (What is happening?! Help me!)
"Vos dos no entendeis que conozco cada palabra que dices, no?" said the Shark almost sardonically. (You two fail to understand that I know every word you're saying.)
John looked at Lukagi in surprise, but Danny didn't seem to register what he'd said. "Hey!" he screamed. "HEEEEEY! SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT'S HAPPENING!"
No one reacted. No one acknowledged him. He was invisible. Unheard.
"Vse budet khorosho, Denni. Delay, chto oni govoryat, i vse budet v poryadke." Lukagi looked at John in surprise. (It's going to be all right, Danny. Do what they say and you'll be all right.)
Danny looked at him. "Dzhon pozhaluysta, vytashchi menya otsyuda..." he pleaded. (John, please, get me out of here...)
"Glubokiye vdokhi, Nephie, sdelay glubokiye vdokhi." (Deep breaths, Nephie, take deep breaths.)
John looked at Lukagi with the subtlest hint of defiance. Lukagi did nothing, knowing that the former couldn't do anything about it. He kept his fury in check, allowing them this small victory. He owed them that, at least.
The kitten looked toward the door. It seemed to inch away from him as if the room was getting bigger.
This chapter, and I fear the next chapter, is painfully dark. So, the question is, how will Danny get out of this?
"Slick Nickers" is a play on the word knickers, which is British slang for underpayants!
In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From His temple He heard my voice, and my cry to Him reached His ears. Psalm 18:6-7
