Chapter Ninety
A Guiding Cover

"Okay. Thanks, Officer Jefferson, we have the address."

"Sure thing, Snarlov," Jefferson said, leaning up against the wall amidst the snow and ice of Tundratown, as he looked slyly around the brick corner of the building and to the narrow, enclosed entranceway to the carpark that the tracking device's signal had led him to. "What're my orders now, get the heck out of this damn ice cone of a street?"

"Heh, sorry furball," the polar bear replied, "we're gonna need you to hang in there for now. Bogo's given me orders to oversee a raid A-Sap after you'd called in with the location. The tracker's signal gives us probable cause; we're gonna need you harden this position and keep an eye on things."

"Sure thing, Snarlov," the tiger replied selflessly, accepting that watching over this target was important and that calling out someone else to do so over the scene, until backup arrived, wasn't good organization for the PD. "I'll sit tight. Just make sure someone brings me a flask of piping-hot coffee for me, will ya?"

"Received, Jefferson. I'll see to it personally. Call in immediately if there's any signs of life out there. ETA for the raiding party, twenty minutes."

"Will do, Snarlov, message received. Overanout."

…

Two rabbits stood in disquiet impatience, waiting amidst the long line of people, which led up to the reception desk of the Saint Bernard's Hospital. The line was long and the people many, but there were several members of staff operating on the other end of the reception, and so the flow of the line was mostly kept in motion.

Billy turned to his mother, his foot thumping on the gray-carpeted floor, the paws on his toned arms shoved deeply into the pockets of his dark aviator's jacket. "Come on, Ma, we gonna go find Judy?"

"Not just yet, hon. Wa—"

"But Mah!"

"We have to go tell the people at the reception who we are and who we're here to see."

"We don't need permission from none these city folk."

"Calm down, Billy," Bonnie soothed, patting the younger buck on the shoulder, "there's hundreds and hundreds of rooms here, we have to find out where Judy is."

"We'll find Judy and get her ourselves, we don't need speak to reception none."

"We need to find out where she is, Billy," she replied, the pitch of her voice rising just a little, "we can't just start walking around the hospital looking in every room."

"Why? Why Ma?"

The doe bit down on her tongue for a moment. "Come on, sweetie," she said, calmly, "it won't take long, you keep an eye out for Mister Bogo who brought us here." The queue, at last, receded back and allowed Bonnie and her son access to the reception cut into the wall. The doe put a warm smile on her face and climbed the step — which had been placed for the convenience of smaller people — to talk to the groundhog on the other side of the low wall of the desk.

"Good day," the receptionist said, "my name's Kathy, how can I help?"

"Hello, I'm here to see Judy. Judy Hopps, the police officer? I'm her mother."

"I see. Have you been here before?"

"No, we've just rushed here from the country."

"Well, you'll need to fill out these registry forms before I can let you through."

Bonnie's smile wilted a little. "Oh," she said, after a pause. "Can't I fill them out later? She's was attacked last night, I've been worried sick, I just want to see someone and find out ho—"

"I'm sorry, Miss, it's regulation for all vi—"

"Police Chief Bogo, ZPD, here to see Judy Hopps and Jack Savage, contact Nurse Roseline Flo immediately."

"Oh, Chief Bogo! Are these two—"

"I said immediately, Kathy, or do I need to take you back to the PD and explain to you the precise meaning of the word immediacy?"

"No-no, I'll…" the groundhog's paw moved to the reception phone, pressing the 'F' button on the cradle's built-in touch pad and scrolling down to the name 'Flo, Rose', which she tapped with a small claw before holding the receiver against her ear. A few moments passed, and then the groundhog turned back to the waiting trio. "She's not answering her mobile, please hold on a moment."

Turning herself around in her chair towards the wall, the large rodent typed some information into the computer on the desk beside the phone. "Who did you say you were here to see? Judy Hopps?"

"That's right."

"According to this: Nurse Flo is currently assisting Doctor Dasse in making a second CT scan of Officer Hopps. It's scheduled to finish at quarter past; if you'd just like to take a seat and come back then, I'll give her another call."

"I see," said the Chief. "Thank you."

"A pleasure," Kathy said, smiling politely.

"So what now?" Bonnie asked softly, following the Chief as he stepped away from the desk.

"We wait, what else?"

"And that 'Jack' fellah?"

"I have a few contacts working here I could call. I guess I could have someone take me to him. I just need a more detailed report on his condition. I don't especially want to leave the two of you alone down h…" the Chief trailed off as he gazed out over the heads of the two rabbits before him, his expression warming just a shade as he looked over their heads. "Officer Wilde," he greeted, "Nurse Flo kicked you down here for the scan, has she?"

The fox tried to control the nervousness in his expression, aware of the emotional state Judy's mother might be in and unsure of how she was going to deal with it. The two rabbits turned to face him, the younger taking a half-step back as he saw the fox and the wolf stood behind him, while the mother looked up at the fox with the slightest of flinches.

"Officer Wilde," she said, a little too calmly, "it's very nice to meet you."

"Yeah, eh, you too," he said, holding out a paw. "Just wish it could've been under better circumstances." Smiling towards the fox politely, Bonnie reached out her paw.

"Ma, don't!" shot Billy, grabbing Bonnie by the wrist and pulling her extending paw back, the shine of the fox's dark claw glinting in his eye.

"Billy!" the doe rebuked with sternness at him.

"But Dad said, Dad said I had ta look out for ya in, in the—"

"Billy, Billy dear, you can trust Wilde, he's an officer!"

"Yeah, but, but—"

"Now, say hello to Officer Wilde."

The younger buck glanced between the fox and the wolf, his paws shoving into his aviator's jacket. "Hi," he grunted, "Officer Wilde."

"Nick… Nick is fine, thanks."

Bonnie nodded, glancing to Wolfard. "And you?"

"Officer Wolfard, Ma'am." Bonnie licked her lips as she thought of what to say. Clearing his throat softly, the Chief caught the wolf's eye and nodded for Jim to follow as they stepped away; hence, giving the fox and the two rabbits a little space.

"So. You're waiting to see Judy too?"

"Yeah," Nick said, "we've seen her, but they've sent us down here for her scan."

"You've seen her? How was she, how did she look?"

The fox considered for a brief moment and decided that answering only the second part of that question was the best idea right now. "She looked… pretty good. Given what she's been through, I mean."

"I'm guessing that… you know what happened to her, right?"

"I know-I-know, I'm sorry, I should've been there; I hate myself for—"

"No, Officer, I mean… you think you could tell me about it?"

"Bogo hasn't told you?"

"He said to me why she was sent in there just with Jack for backup, why no one could get there to help her out before what went down happened."

"And you were satisfied with that?"

"No," the doe said, simply, "I'm not in any way 'satisfied' with what has happened to Judy. But, I guess, I do see that your chief was just trying to do what he felt was right at the time." Sighing, the doe's head lowered a little and her paw rose to meet it. "I need someone to blame," she droned. "I guess the only person I can really blame is myself."

As he heard her breaths deepen and saw her droop just a little more, the fox's expression glanced between the wolf and the buffalo stood at the distance. He turned back down to the rabbit before him, his voice soft and his expression deep with sorrow of his own. "Hey," he soothed, reaching out a paw to touch her on the shoulder, "come on now, there's no need to ta—"

"Ah said don't touch my Ma!" Billy closed on the fox and planted a shove in his chest. He was surprisingly stronger than Nick had expected, and so Nick stumbled awkwardly backwards at his push. Wolfard reached out instinctively and grabbed onto Wilde to help him catch his balance, while the chief of police drilled a harsh glare towards the smaller youngster.

"Listen to me, young mammle," Bogo warned, pointing down towards him, "bodyguarding your mother is one thing, but assaulting an officer is—"

"I din't do nothing, I was just looking out for Ma. It were him came on with his claws t' grab her!"

"Billy, I really don't think Mister Wi—"

"I can handle it, Ma, Dad said I was to handle any dem predators came a-chasing us." Behind him, Bonnie rolled her eyes up towards the high ceiling as she uttered a 'choose' word beneath her breath.

"In the rough parts of this city such instruction would be reasonable," Bogo said, "but this is Precinct-bloody-One, and Wilde—"

"Um not arg'u'in this," Billy shot, "I'm keeping watch on Ma and that's what I'm gonna do. You can't do say nothin' that'd change that."

"Okay listen, everyone," the Chief piped-up. "We're all of us here for the same purpose: to see Miss Hopps. None of us have conflicting interests and none of us have any reason to begrudge the other. So let's all just go take a seat or shut up talking at least."

The buck huffed, his paws crossing, while his mother reached out her paw and stroked him on the head. "Ma, get off," he muttered, trying to dodge the motherly doe's attempts at soothing him. Bogo moved away from the small gathering — the fox, wolf and two rabbits — and dropped himself down in one of the seats, which were just small enough to be uncomfortable for him to sit in.

Wolfard paced over and sat a few chairs down from him. Nick glanced around towards them, and then turned back at Billy and Bonnie, giving the buck a short, uncertain glance before turning to the doe. "It's, uh… I don't know, I really don't know what to say. This… it's shaken me up just like it has you, Mrs Hopps."

"You're her partner, I understand."

His gaze flicked towards the doe at the mention of that word, but he didn't let his startlement show and quickly assured himself with the homonym's most probable implication of the word. "Yeah, since before I was an officer, we were solving crimes together."

Clearing her throat, the doe smiled tenderly. "I'm sorry I never invited you over at Christmas or anything."

"Oh, erh," Nick stumbled on his words, scratching his collar, "yeah, Judy did invite me to come over with her and visit a couple of times, but erm, didn't really… want to—"

"I get it, Nick, I know. But, about Judy—" her polite smile fading, Bonnie pushed the question, "What's happened to her? I know about the shipping ship thing that was going to escape, I know about the goatee professor who held you and the others back… but what happened to her? What state is she in?"

"She— she's… she's doing okay, she's gonna be okay." Bonnie's exterior weakened with sadness, while the concealed pain grew in strength across the fox's roughened features, his eyes narrowing with grief, his muzzle twitching with worry. "She's been… awake and talking a couple of times, she's kinda illusive, but, she's… she's still in there, Judy's still in there."

The doe watched the fox as his emotional state buckled before her. She glanced to Billy, who watched with a hard-set jaw, and she looked back to Nick, doubt entering her mind as to whether she should pursue her line of questioning or not. She did a small step, reasserted herself, and said, "But what happened to her, Nick? What actually happened?"

Nick couldn't hold off the shock at her efforts to his now-leaking and burning grief. "Just tell her whyfore," Billy iterated, "an' no lies, fox."

Not for the first time, the fox held back what he wanted to say as his glance moved to the smaller buck, and he looked back at the motherly doe with tones un-darkened by Billy's snide words, "I still don't know the whole picture. We're all gonna have to wait until Judy's ready to tell us what really happened."

"Just give me what you can. Anything's better than knowing nothing, I hate ignorance."

"Why, I don't really know, but it doesn't seem like she was attacked by just everyone who was there. There's no gun wounds, nothing like that. It was an… a, eh—"

"An attack," Bonnie noted, realizing the fox was struggling to say it himself.

"Yeah, an unarmed attack by just one mammle, a wolf, a massive damn white wolf with these… cold, pale eyes."

"You saw him?"

"Yeah-yeah. I was first on the scene. Huh, broke pretty much every driving rule trying to get there fast as I could. Broke speed limits, mounted sidewalks, drove backwards down one-way streets. I got there, the place was just… empty. There were couple of bodies just… on the ground. Smelt like burnt fur. I found Jack, he looked dead. Found Judy's scent, followed it into the old boatbuilders' yard, and…"

The fox turned to the Chief sat behind him, his voice dry and soft, "Guess some of this is new info to you too, right?"

"Carry on, Wilde, you're doing fine."

"Well, I went up to the doors… I could hear the police sirens getting closer… and then they just threw themselves open, and this mass of white was cannonballing me to the floor, couldn't move, didn't even have time to cry out."

"Ho— how did you escape him?"

"I honestly have no idea, Mrs Hopps," the fox said. "It was like he got startled by me; as I said to Judy, like he was startled when he saw me, when his damn cold eyes locked with mine they… oh, Bogo, something Judy noticed… something I remember after she brought it up."

"Go on."

"He, erh… the wolf was savage, his pupils were slit."

"I'm not surprised his eyes were slit, he'd been in paw-to-paw combat with two well-trained officers; it's normal for a predator's eyes to slit under—"

"She seemed to think it was more than jus—"

"Sorry," Bonnie interrupted, "you two can talk over the details of what exactly happened later; I want to know what happened to my Judy." Nick looked to Bogo for guidance, but the Chief shrugged and sat back into the small chair, his paws giving obscurity to his chest.

"After the wolf freak disappeared, I went inside the little shack place and found Judy hiding someplace in the dark. I lifted her, took her out… the ambulance was there by that time—"

"What state was she in?"

The fox's demeanor weakened, his mind trying to avoid remembering the details of that hated night of dread and revulsion. "A bad one?"

"In detail," the doe demanded, with her drive for answers unmoved by his faltering frame of mind.

"She… she was bloody, ah… and crying, and wounded and she was crumpled and small ah— and whimpering an—" His voice catching in his throat, the fox looked up and over his shoulder slowly, his overwrought expression softening just a touch as he saw Jim stood there beside him, his sandy paw placed supportively on Nick's shoulder.

The doe tried to blink away the tears of frustrated fear that formed, pushing on to that one question she wanted answering to so bad. "And her… clothes, her body, had anything been done to it?"

"I… I don't—"

"Rape, was it rape, is that what it was?"

The fox stared at her for a lasting moment, until his dry lips parted to a followed nod.

The doe flinched back, her paw raising to cup her face. "I knew it, I knew— I knew it was just a matter of time, I knew…" Her hurt clear upon her face, her apprehensive gaze turned back towards the fox. "You stopped it, right? You stopped it before anything could happen?"

Managing to break through the mud in his throat, the fox's voice managed to raspingly escape, "Yeah, I stopped it. Would've been for real if I hadn't arrived when I did."

The doe breathed long and slow breaths, relief across her features even as she drew her arm across her chest, closing herself in against the fears and doubts around her. "At…" her voice catching, the doe cleared her throat, "so there's one thing at least she's got out without."

Bogo glanced over at the hench figure of Billy; a small, though grim smile appearing upon his face, as he noticed the young buck looking to the figure of the fox's disheartened expression, perhaps with a touch of sympathy, perhaps just sorrow for hearing about his sister, who was lying in a state of half-sleep-half-wakefulness somewhere in the hospital above.

…

"Excellent. Yes, yes, the CT results have come out very nicely. Wouldn't you say, Doctor Hedda?"

"Very clear, Doctor Dasse. Shall I examine the results now, or take them to my office?"

"Eh— Flo, go in there and help Judy out."

"Of course, Doctor," she said, nodding at him briefly before turning and gliding from the room — the two doctors talking over the results, while she pushed open the door and stepped inside the other room with the Computerized Tomography scanner. Promptly, she called out reassurances to the rabbit inside, pressing a button with her small paw, which began slowly ejecting the medical bed from within the belly of the large, tubular device.

"There we are," Flo said, helping Judy out of her ear muffs. "Not too distressing, I hope?"

Judy took a few moments to gather her thoughts to reply; Flo adjusted the dials on the side her medical bed and slowly raised her back to help the rabbit sit up more comfily. "It… kinda was, to start with, but, it wasn't that bad… I guess."

"Good, glad to hear it. It can be quite unnerving if you're not used to it. We have Doctor Fredericka Hedda looking over the results now. She's a very experienced radiologist. She's just going to examine what the scanner's recorded and check to make sure your calvaria, the skullcap, is healing correctly."

"Okay. What— what now?"

"You're not required to undertake any medical procedures at this time. However, Judy, while you were under, I received an SMS informing me that Chief Bogo had arrived with two rabbits, last name 'Hopps'."

"My… my parents?"

"That was my assumption… unfounded though it is."

"Great. Just when I was thinking I could relax for a— ah" The rabbit yelped softly as she tried to pull herself up in the bed. Flo reached out a supporting paw to gently lower her back down into the sheets.

"If it's going to cause you anxiety," she said, earnestly, "I would strongly recommend refusing to see them for now. You're much stronger than you initially were, but physically you still need to be very careful right now."

"No, I… I'd better see them, probably worried sick."

Flo nodded, taking the foot of the bed and slowly backing out of the room, pushing the doors open with her rump as she pulled the bed along. "If that is your wish. Officers Wilde and Wolfard are also waiting for you in the waiting area. I'll buzz Bogo once you're settled back in your room; he'll bring them up here."

Judy smiled delicately, her head lowering an inch further into the soothing coolness of the pillow. "Bogo's here too? With all the work he's got going on? Heh, I would've thought he'd be solving all da crimes, or digging into a suspect or something."

Flo smiled, silkily, speaking mostly to herself, "Chief Bogo's a very good mammle, he cares a lot about his officers, though the casual observer might assume. He's one of the very few memmle I genuinely respect."

…

"Officer Wilde," said Bogo, with Bonnie and her son sat down beside one another, and the fox about to sit himself beside Wolfard.

"Eh, yes Chief?" he replied, pulling his weight back from the act of sitting down and turning up at the Chief as he rose.

"A word." The fox followed the large buffalo, who led him around the corner and through a set of doors that entered a small hallway, which connected the male and female bathrooms to the waiting room. Bogo checked over his broad shoulders as the door swung shut, making sure they were out of earshot of even the most attentive sets of ears.

"Thanks for giving Hopps' mother the rundown, one less stress I have to deal with." The fox waited through a pause, deeply aware Bogo wouldn't have taken him out of earshot of the others just to say that. After a few moments, the Chief sighed and continued with his speech, "Before I left, I gave you instructions that you weren't to leave this building until I'd come back to speak to you. Thank you for staying true to that."

"I'm not going anywhere, not while Judy's condition's still being checked out."

Bogo nodded, solemnly. "Yes. But we cannot pretend you do not realize the nature of what I want… well, what I need to talk to you about. Especially since releasing your 'fennec' friend from captivity."

"You've let him escape?"

"He is currently locked inside one of our interrogation rooms with instructions to lie low. I'm… not entirely sure how to proceed. I'm hoping to use him to get our hooves on some kangaroo he mentioned being the superior to him… Jacques, his name was. But, well, the only way to gain his cooperation, from what I can tell of him, is to have a police escort close at hoof the whole time he's there. Which is obviously impossible, we need him kept as much in the dark as possible for when we break him out." The Chief stood quietly, thinking for a few, long moments. "You've known this mammle a long while, I'm guessing: will he bolt the moment we let him go?"

"Like blazers, yeah."

"There's no way we can ensure he reports back and cooperates."

"None. And I'm saying that with everything I know about him and all my years of looking at what makes people tick. Guy's got no commitments, except for himself. Nothing he cares about, except money, nothing of value, nothing he…" coming to a sudden standstill, the fox's brow furrowed and his eyes darted back and forth in thought. A thin smile appeared on his long muzzle after an instant with dry amusement of a chuckle. "Gosh damn it, I know what you can do."

The buffalo raised a brow, his head inclining to the side as he watched the dexterous cogs in the sly fox's mind turn. "How, Nick? How can we turn this Joker into an Ace?"

"Chief, erh… there'll be a beat-up van somewhere not far from Erkin, where we picked Finnick up from. Impound it."

A crooked smile of the Chief's own appeared on his lips. "Sentimental value?"

"A mountain. The van is his house, has been since I met him. Everything he owns is in that. Losing it'd be like losing everything he'd worked for."

"The registration plate?" Bogo asked, taking out his notebook.

"Nah, don't bother, he's got about a dozen fake plates made, and he changes them pretty regularly. It'll be easy to recognize, though… it'll have this elaborate paint job on the side. Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl. Aztec legend, if ya really want to know."

"I'll send an instruction to have it taken in shortly. It's a mundane enough order not to require too much falsifying to have carried out; shouldn't raise too many suspicions."

"So… you wanted to ask me something."

The grin on the buffalo's face falling, his gaze rose back from his notepad to the fox, his breathing slow and steady, as he looked towards the fox's sleep-deprived expression and expressive emeralds. "You're a good officer, Nick. A damn good officer. You've proved it time and time again, as you have again just now. But I need to know if I can trust you, Wilde, I need to know if I can trust you to uphold the law of this city, even if Hopps wasn't around to keep you on the straight and narrow. We need to talk. Not here, not now, but soon."

"When?"

Bogo's brow falter, surprise crossing his features at the question-dodging fox's sudden directness. His gaze lowering, he sighed, grimly. "Hopps should be out of the scan soon. Once you and her mother and the others are through talking with her, you and I are going to find somewhere very private… and sort this thing out. And that'll be the end of it, one way or the other, that'll be it."

"Yeah. I'd like that."

"You would?"

"Too much fluffing around recently, too many cloaks hiding too many daggers, just… I was a creature of lies and deception once before, Bogo; there's a damn good reason why I left that kind of lifestyle behind me."

"Wilde, I… Nick, there's a lot of things, a great many things I did back in those days that…" Grunting, his hoof moved to his pocket from where he took his buzzing phone, pressing the 'open' key and reading the message, which had sparked its quiet demands for attention. He chuckled softly, a thin smile upon his features. "We can finish this up later, Nick. Just had a message from Flo. 'Judy awake and ready to see parents, ward A, first floor, room thirteen, come now'."

"Thanks, Chief," the fox said, smiling up at his chief with tired eyes. "I owe you a lot for the past couple'a days."

Bogo's thin smile slowly turned to a look of disheartened assurance. "Come on, Wilde." He placed his large hoof on the fox's shoulder and led him back to the large room of chairs and waiting people — their lives held in a standstill by the illness or injury of themselves or those they loved.

"I did things back then every day that would've seen me court-martialed today," Bogo said to the fox. "It was a different time back then, a different city. And if the PD is willing to overlook that, so I can carry on protecting this city today, why should the law be any different for you? That's not how justice works, not in my books."

The fox thought carefully on what the Chief had just said, gazing down at his feet as he walked, his mind lost to wonderings and wanderings — Bogo's guiding hoof alone keeping him moving straight in the right direction.

Author's notes:

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Grooms decision thus chosen blind.

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