Chapter Ninety-One
Outcomes

Twelve miles west of the city of Zootopia, where the Elysian Plains met the Idyll Mountains; where the bare rock and sharp drops melded with the grasses — dry, yellow and straggly though they were — of the flatlands and fields south, sat an intricate complex of large, gray blocks.

The gray blocks sat massive upon a wide, flat foundation of concrete, which had been dug into the stone and earth of the land beneath. The blocks of gray sat quietly humming with the sound of generators and ventilation; thin wisps of dark smoke drifted from one of a small number of discrete chimneys; the concrete foundation upon which the complex laid were bordered all around barbed-wire fencing, flanked by cameras and marked with bright red warnings of the impending fate of unauthorized 'guests'.

There was no movement. No signs of life. Just the endless, dull hum. There were no windows; the doors were all made from solid metal which was barred solid from the inside.

Movement between the large gray blocks of buildings was facilitated by wide, blocky corridors; the inhabitance inside able to move like moles between their rooms: unseen, unheard, unknown — every person, every act, every corner of the complex covered and hidden from outside eyes, without the slightest hint of purpose, but for a single, bold sign attached to the outer-side of the single, tall gate 'Government Property – KEEP OUT'.

Within the proximity of one of the smaller blocks of gray, in an area partially separate from the rest of the complex, the figure of a raccoon sat in a modernly lit room of switchboards, quiet classical music playing from a small CD player as he sat quietly in his chair, looking up with closed eyes as the walls of telephone wires and circuits stood tall around him while he listened.

An electronic beeping wrinkled the air, its high tone sharp and impatient. The dark raccoon opened his eyes and leaned smoothly towards his wall of wires and sockets, flicked a switch and lifted a telephone receiver to his ear. "Terminal Four, identity please," he stated. A reply was made. "Countersign, please." He waited through a second reply and nodded, a touch of personality emerging from his stilted voice of before. "Well good morning, Officer, how can I help? Tchaikovsky? Yes, he's available, putting you through."

Pressing the switch again, the incoming call was muted. Reaching out with his small, clawed paw, the dark figure pulled the single 'red-corded' telephone wire from his own phone receiver — the one and only telephone line which connected to an external phone; all the others baring only internal connections for security purposes.

For the 'officer' on the other end, the line went dead. The polar bear looked down at her phone, her lips twisting uncertainly as she waited for a response, leaning back in the police chief's chair slowly before a stiff voice spoke out into her unsureness.

"Tchaikovsky. Senior Technologist. That's T-C-H-A-I—"

"Tchaikovsky, Tchaikovsky," she interrupted, sitting up, "I know how your name's spelt I have your file in front of me. This is Officer Snarlov here, in active command of the ZPD."

"I believe you."

"Your department received a sample of blood late yesterday," Snarlov inquired, "from the scene of the city docks?"

"Yes," the voice replied, the tone raising in pitch in a veiled expression of interest, "the blood of the wolf."

"It's been several hours since we sent the blood sample to you, it was given priority clearance but we haven't heard anything back. Has the sample been examined?"

"Yeeees."

Snarlov grunted impatiently, passing the phone from one ear to the other. "And?"

"We want to see him. Once he's caught, we want to examine him."

The polar bear blinked, turning to stare at the receiver at the oddness of the words, but ignored the divergence and tried to push things back on-topic, "Catching him is exactly what we want to do, I am commanding a raid on his current location in a matter of minutes; I need everything of importance you can give me on this mammal and I need it now."

"We have some very curious and very unusual results. Results I've never seen before, and would have disbelieved, had I not carried out the tests myself."

"What results?"

"Too little. Far too little blood to properly investigate and test all elements, far too much of interest to be able to give you direct facts on everything."

"Tchaikovsky, you little mongoose, you hide away in Terminal Four all you want, I can still put an 'obstruction of police duty' on your arse!"

There was an extended moment; then Snarlov heard a slow intake of breath. "The 'wolf' creature will be easy to identify: he will be albino white, no markings of any kind and stands a clear foot taller than the largest standard mammal of his species— if my reading of his genetic structure is accurate, which, I have to say, in a case as unique as this one, I cannot guarantee."

"Understood," the bear said, jotting down notes. "Anything else you can tell me?"

"Only to use extreme caution when dealing with him, both in the arrest itself and continuously after. No amount of caution will be excessive. Again, margin for error aside, he will be resistant to tranquilization rounds and perhaps physical trauma. He'll be violent, strong, fearless and impossible to reason with if his emotional state becomes unbalanced."

"Brilliant," Snarlov mocked, "what next, you're gonna tell me, he's high on nighthowler?"

"Not exactly. But something like that." The stand-in police chief glanced back towards the handset, her brow lowering. She motioned to speak, glanced at the time, huffed and then pressed to hang up, skipping the amenity of granting the mongoose a final 'goodbye'.

"Alright," she said to herself, pulling her body up from Bogo's chair, "extreme caution. Ah, damn— damn, damn, damn— gonna have to convince Bloat to give over her specialist supplies— ah, crap."

…

A white-furred figure rounded a white-walled corridor, a long white coat draping from her rounded, proud shoulders and swathing down to below her trim waist and long, large-footed legs. Her white coat was offset cleanly by a pair of tan trousers and a light blue shirt, which matched the color of her eyes. A playful grin grew upon the muzzle of the watching wolf, who nudged the fox sitting next to him as she approached.

"Eh— Chief?" Nick said, as the hare closed upon them. The Chief stood — the fox, wolf and two rabbits following suit — as the buffalo nodded at Flo.

"Mrs Hopps," Bogo said, "allow me to introduce to you Nurse Flo,"

"Judy's mother, I assume," the hare said, a thin smile crossing her lips for a moment that was used to glance to the younger buck — whose eyes were wondering parts of her body she would rather have had un-wondered — before turning with a derisive puffing of her chest as she looked back at the mother. "Nice to meet you, I am the nurse in charge of observing and maintaining your daughter's condition."

"Ma," Billy whispered unquietly as he pulled on his mother's shirt, "Ma, Ma."

"Sh-shh, sweetie," Bonnie said, pulling his paw away as she responded to Flo, "I see, I see, thank you, so ha-how— not now Billy— how is she?"

"Very stable, signs of good recovery patterns, her surgery wa—"

"Surgery?!"

The hare paused mid-word, gazing levelly at the doe before her. She closed her mouth slowly, thought for a moment; then stated, "If you five will please come with me. I'm sure you're anxious to see her; I can talk you through her condition once we're all together."

Flo in the lead, the other people followed behind — Billy still pulling on his mother's shirt. "Flo," Bogo said, catching up to the hare as they walked, "I need an update on Jack's position... as much as I want to see Hopps…"

"It's understandable. It's probably best you didn't all mound in to see her at the same time at any rate, I think it would be damaging to her mental state to do such. I'll instruct one of the nurses charged with checking up on Jack's condition to take you down to him."

"How— how is Jack, anyway?" Nick asked, cautiously.

"One thing at a time, Officer Wilde," the hare replied, glancing over her shoulder. "Let's focus on Judy's condition for now and branch out to other people's medical conditions, once I have allowed her mother and… I should mention to you both now, though," she warned, pausing at the door leading into the main part of the hospital, "Judy is still in a very consciously elusive state. If she 'is', when we enter, or 'becomes', at some stage, gradually very drowsy and sluggish, you mustn't be adversely alarmed."

The collection of people continued down their path, following the hare as she walked them at a firm pace. "Nurse Perry," she said, halting the movement of one of the medical staff as she went about her duties.

"Thank you Flo, Nurse Perry. Wolfard, with me. We'll give the Hoppses some space," Bogo gave courtesy as well as commands. The wolf nodded in agreement, turning to Nick with a shared nod of mutuality, and to Rose who didn't react to him at all. Instead, waiting until he'd turned away to follow the Chief, did she allow a small grin to appear.

She chuckled inwardly, thinking about how she'd be able to tease him over it later, while also instructing him on the unnecessary desire for acknowledgement he sought from her and the people around him. She tried to take the lead at the direction of before, when a low-browed buck caught up and paced by her side.

"Hey, Nursey, we need tah hook up. The Billy's taken a liking to your cheeks an sweet legs."

"Out of your league," she deadpanned, these kinds of 'advances' not as foreign to her as Wolfard would imagine, "emotionally, logically, academically."

"You're outta my nothing. You won't be sayin' dat when you see the size of my d—"

"You're really about to tell a hare you've only just met about the size of your phallus, and you're genuinely expecting a positive reaction?"

"Works on all the buns back home. It's cuz they all know how big it is, bae, talk-a the town."

"And you don't mind talking about such matters openly, while your mother can hear you, for instance?"

"No she don't! I ain't talking to her, how she gonna hear, sweetlips?"

Nick watched with carefully gritted teeth — careful, so as not to allow his lips to raise and expose his canines, something he knew Billy would leap on the moment he could. He kept himself quiet for now, aware that Flo was managing to stay ahead of his clumsy attempts at seduction, not that it was difficult, and that Bonnie didn't seem to have any interest in trying to stop him. He was just glad Wolfard wasn't around to hear. He could see things escalating between him and Billy quickly if he were. And then he and Wool would be picking pieces of rabbit fur out of their teeth from behind bars.

"Hey, we— we ain't having this here fox coming in with us, is we?"

"Considering he is Judy's work partner and has worked closely beside her for over a year now, yes, he is."

"No... Ma, tell 'er, tell 'er why thas not gonna happen for."

Flo adjusted her glasses, thoughtfully. "What exactly is your grievance against Mister Wilde, Billy?"

"That he be a fox, an that it's in his generic nature—"

"It's 'genetic' sweeti—"

"Shup, Ma, I'm handling it! It be in his genic code to eatin' us rabbits on," Billy asserted and crossed his arms in defiance, while his expression gave insight that he wasn't finished, "now I ain't sayin' that he's not a good person at heart, only tha' he can't control his urges to lie an' be a sneakin' fox."

The hare nodded, mimicking the act of giving his words careful consideration. "Tell me, Billy," she drew, slipping her paws into her pockets, "when was the last time you ate your own feces?"

"Mh what?"

"Your poop."

"Deh fuh? I ain't never eating my own crap!"

"Foxes used to hunt and eat rabbits, once upon a time... and rabbits used to eat their own fecal pellets. If you're not encouraged, by your own genetic coding, to eat your waste for its nutritional value, then it logically stands that there's no such effects acting on Nick."

"Wor, were... Nick ain't comin' with us!"

A twitch of genuine frustration crossed the hare's lips. "But it's just been explained to you the inadequacies of your prior opinion on the matter of the effects of Nick's genetic influences on his actions. Your only reasonable response should be to re-evaluate the foundation of your standpoint and recast it to a more logical outcome!"

"Wh... worh— wha's a she sayin', Ma? She using dem city talk, I can't unnerstand her none!"

"I think you'd better just leave her to it, sweetie. Just like I told you to when you started asking if I thought she'd date you."

Nick snorted to himself. Asking his Mom for permission to date someone, and then going after them with all the tact of a horny bulldog, when she had said no. Little fluff was an interesting one, he could give him that. He glanced towards the doe walking quietly beside him, wondering why she'd made no attempt to stop Billy perusing the obviously uninterested hare.

The hare stopped her gait suddenly, turning towards a white door. The fox put the thought to figure out more of what made Billy tick to the back of his mind, something to think about later, while he dealt with whatever issues might arise from Bonnie and her son's entry to the room.

...

"I'm sorry, Chief Bogo sir," Nurse Perry intervened with caution, looking in through the window of Jack's room. "It looks like they're taking a blood test at the moment, probably to find his blood type for the transfusion. We'll have to wait out here for a few moments."

The buffalo nodded with him and the wolf leaning back against the wall. They watched, with hints of uncomfortable unsureness at how to handle the other's company, at the walls and ceiling and bright lights that surrounded them. The Chief cleared his throat. He knew Wolfard, obviously, but the two of them had never really 'spoken'.

"So, what brings you here today, anyway," the Chief grunted, trying to both make conversation and uphold his 'chiefly' domineer.

"Just... came over to see Nick and Hopps."

"I wasn't aware the three of you had any kind of personal affiliation. They've mostly kept to themselves this past year."

"Well we've... we're kinda getting close. Her and Wilde, Nick mostly."

"He's a good mammle. It's good of you to come down. But with Judy how she is, the emotional trauma, they need someone to keep an eye on them. Obviously Rose will always be close by, but just having present medical staff at hoof isn't the same as having a friend stay with you."

"Rose?" Wool repeated.

"Oh," Bogo dismissed, "I mean Nurse Flo… don't call her Rose, she's funny about people knowing her first name."

"So how do you know it? I mean, yeah, you've got your paperwork and stuff, but what got you saying her first name out of habit?"

Bogo raised a brow. "You been getting lessons from Nick?"

"Actually! Eh, never mind, go on."

"I've known her since... well, since she was young. I was a friend of her aunt, who raised her. I don't exactly 'know' know her, but I do think of her more as niece than a ZPD 'asset'." The Chief turned back in towards the dark window, casually. "So since we're on the subject of implications and deductions: why the grin at Flo when she first appeared, and why the needy look at her before we parted just now?"

The Chief looked back to the wolf as he struggled to find an answer — a thin smile appearing on Bogo's muzzle at the effects of the question he had asked, mostly to make a point that the wolf hadn't just one-upped on his Chief than for the knowledge itself.

"Oh, erhm. I guess, kinda— I mean, it doesn't really matter if you know, I'm sure you don't really care… we're kinda, dating, I guess?"

Bogo's thin smile vanished from his face. He stared in puzzlement at the wolf for a brief moment and then a grin appeared as he said, "You have been taking lessons from Wilde."

"Eh, yeah— yeah, I guess so…"

"Damn. Rose in a relationship? I didn't think that was possible."

"It wasn't exactly easy getting her to talk about it even. It's much more a matter of it being 'because Flo wanted it' than because of anything I could've said to her."

Bogo nodded. "Well, I hope it lasts for you both. Her heart's in the right place, if she'd ever stop to listen to it, which she very rarely does over the volume of her logical mind."

"Heh," Jim chuckled, dryly, "I've already kinda noticed getting her to open up is gonna be a continual challenge."

…

Judy's eyes pulled open slowly, groggily. She felt like she'd been drugged. Then she realized that she had been. She tried to deepen her breaths, tried to clear her mind and sharpen her vision, until she became aware of a sound across the room. She looked across at the door as it swung open, preparing herself for news when she saw Flo, while a smile crossed her features when she saw Nick, and then a pounding strike of anxiety entered her gut when she saw her mother.

Her vision blurred over, a low groan escaping her as she forced herself to call out, "Hey, Mom…!"

"Oh Judy, my cupcake, how're you?"

"I'm— well, I'm not too—"

"How do you feel, how are you?"

Judy managed to force herself to smile; a small, grim smile appeared on the fox's face likewise, as he noticed her use the tricks he'd taught her to hide her true emotions and thoughts. "It's nothing I can't handle, just some bruises and… and—"

Realizing she'd thrown too much confidence into starting that sentence, the rabbit's breaths slowed and deepened, and her vision became fuzzy as she lowered her head carefully back down on the pillow, wincing at the movement of her neck.

"Thanks for coming to see me, Mom," Judy groaned, quietly.

"Oh, of course my biscuit, Stu would have come here too, if I'd let him. But I made him stay and help out planting this year's crop." Bonnie chuckled, an oddly forced tone of chuckle that made Nick's gut tickle in mild alarm. "Stu's made me bring Billy here in his place."

"Bi…" Judy froze mid-exclamation, her eyes staying closed, her expression remaining the same and her breath suddenly halting as something was sought in the form of a reply. After a moment, she licked her lips and just… didn't say anything.

"Hey Jude," Billy entered, "Mom and I have been worried sick over you. I'm glad to see you're just okay."

"She's not 'just okay'," Nick muttered, "she's in hosp—"

"She still looks better than I was picturing in my head, Nick the faux. Ya poor ting, your paw all in a cast, your forehead all bandaged up..."

"Yeah," Judy sighed, "it's surprising, isn't it."

"What's that Judy?" Bonnie asked.

"I said it's surprising," she re-stated, "what getting cut up and nearly raped can do to you."

Bonnie glanced between Judy and the nurse, trying to emotionally sidestep Judy's sudden surge in irritation — while Nick gave wonder to her with strange musings, nevertheless, a thin smile appeared on his muzzle at seeing her still fighting for herself, even in a condition of weakness and lack of exit.

...

The doctor who was taking the blood sample, when he was opening the door, he dashed back when the high figure of Chief Bogo appeared over him. Bogo's glare was stony and spoke peril. The beaver with the blood samples flushed an unusual shade of red and slipped past him with unrivaled hurry down down the corridor.

Bogo chuckled, glad to see he hadn't lost the knack. He stepped into the dimness of the room, but then blocked the entrance with his large frame, thus, the wolf was unable to get in.

"Oh, eh, I..." Wolfard stuttered, looking up at the stern features of his boss. "Sure," he relented, "right." His paws went into his pockets as the door shut, looking down, dejected, upon the floor as he waited in the whiteness of the Saint Bernard's Hospital corridor.

...

Nurse Flo cleared her throat. "Now, just to bring you all up to speed, after the attack in the harbor, which I am not privy to the detail of, Judy Hopps was briefly examined and kept stable by the medical staff who brought her in. They discovered her wrist was broken, which they splinted, also examining her worst wounds and checking for underlying issues. When she came into our examination room, we proceeded to clean up and stitch her wounds, checked her level of consciousness, heart rate, blood pressure and so forth."

"We noticed signs of internal bleeding and damage to the skull, and so, after securing her broken wrist and other injuries with the time permitted, we put her into an emergency CT scan. This scan revealed internal bleeding in the digestive system, which was causing blood-loss and respiratory difficulties, and a depressed fracture to the skull."

"Oh… oh fluff," Bonnie breathed, her voice tuneless, chill.

"The nature of a depressed fracture is—"

"That the bone has sunk 'into' the head," Bonnie said instead, "yeah, go on."

"Indeed. The injury was sustained on the right parietal, the right-most of the superior bones of the cranium. Some damage was also sustained to the occipital bone, which connects to the vertebral column of the spine. If the brunt of the trauma had been sustained there it could've been very nasty: death or at least advanced paralysis would have occurred."

"As it stands, she will have a strongly reduced ability to articulate and rotate her head for a long while, and will suffer sustained pains as the damaged tissues repairs itself. As to the fractured parietal in the cranium, the depressed skull, which had pressed down into the dura mater and cerebrospinal fluids which protect the brain, was exerting potentially life-threatening pressure upon the prosencephalon, or 'forebrain'."

"These plates were removed and returned to their correct location by the surgeons, including the very respectable Doctor Dasse. And I am happy to say that these plates have held in place and appear to be on the way to healing nicely. She will, of course, have to take extreme care with even light knocks to her skull until she's fully healed. Any such occurrences must be immediately reported to either myself or Doctor Dasse, and we will likely bring her in for an examination to ensure the plates have not moved. If they do, it means another bout of surgery to correct them, something none of us want to see happen if it can be avoided. Just make sure to take care and to avoid all strenuous tasks. And you really must, I can't exaggerate it, you really must bring her in for a checkup, even if it's only a minor knock to the side."

"Wait-wait," Nick related, Bonnie's emotions roaming too highly to respond, "you're saying she… can go?"

"In a few days, yes."

"But… but her…"

The fox trailing off, the hare counted to three in her head — the number she always counted to when unsure of if someone was finished speaking or not, so she could satisfy herself that she couldn't be classified as interrupting them — and replied.

"Aside from her fractured skull, the rest of the injuries really were not that serious, far from life-threatening. She just needs time to recover. We'll keep her in the hospital a few more days until the worst of her wounds have sealed up and stopped weeping so much, and to make sure her wrist bones and skull plates are repairing correctly. But after that, there's very little more we can do."

"Well, I… I don't think I'm happy with that, Nurse. She's been attacked for goodness sake!"

"Mrs Hopps, your daughter is in an excellent physical condition. And owing to the factor of the extra heightened metabolic rate provided by her species, it is already allowing her to recover far quicker than the average person would be able to. The majority of the wounds, the cuts and grazes, needed treatment and will leave scars, but are nothing life-threatening. Her broken wrist will recover in time, and her skull is, so far, healing normally. I'm personally far more concerned about the psychological trauma, which is something she isn't going to recover in a hospital environment. And, what's more, being a rabbit, her metabolic rate is far higher than in the average person, allowing her to recover far more quickly than might be expected."

"I'm still not happy. Is there no way we can have her kept in the hospital longer?"

"Mrs Hopps… Bonnie," Flo sighed in another attempt, "I understand your concern and the logic behind your opinion but, inversely rational though it may appear, I believe maintaining her presence in this hospital environment would be detrimental to her long-term well-being."

Squinting and raising her paw, the motherly doe rubbed at her forehead, thinking for a moment before stating, "You're saying you think keeping her in is a bad idea?"

"Indeed. As I've already said, there's very little we can do for her, except provide her with a bed and regular checkups. As you're aware, she has just been through a second CT scan, and the doctor who examined the results has found no further signs of major internal damage. All that's required is that you have someone check if her skull is continuing to heal correctly, as it currently is. I'm sure there will be general practitioners nearby to wherever you or Judy live, who can provide such checkups."

"I'll take her home then," the doe decided to herself before turning down to the figure of Judy and touching her upon the shoulder. "I'm gonna take you home, sweetie, back to Bunnyburrow."

"Wh— what? Nh, no, Mom, what about the city, what about Nick?"

"Judy," Nick soothed, "you really want to be stuck your tiny apartment day after day while you're recovering?"

"Well… I, I mean no, not really, but..."

"I suggest leaving this for now," Flo asserted. "It will still be several weeks before she's allowed to be dismissed from hospital care. There'll be plenty of time to seek medical advice on the matter then."

"Thank you, Nurse..."

"Flo, Nurse Flo."

"Thanks for taking care of my Judy. You've really done a wonderful thing for me. All her brothers and sisters are gonna be so happy to hear she's healing okay. There'll be plenty of people at paw to help her recover."

Judy groaned at the thought of hundreds of rabbits all asking if she was feeling okay taking her mind. The thought of her and Nick sat alone in one another's company was being the only resounding peace from the overcrowding of attention-unasked-for.

"Judy, are you with us?" Rose asked.

"Yeah, yeah I'm... mostly focused."

"When Bogo and Jim return, it is likely they will want you to talk about what happened that night when you were atta—" The hare's words were sliced by a jolting of sudden panic within Judy.

A bolt of fear set Judy's heart lurching in her chest, while the cold and damp saturation of grime on the floor, and rusted crates around her, set the entrance of darkness and shadows...

The tension took a fade to one of blankness; thus, Judy's mind wondered from recollection, and her body slipped into something which resembled rest.

Author's notes:

Hesitance jumps around your mind,

Grooms decision thus chosen blind.

Your thoughts most succulent of snack,

All delivered by luscious feedback.

So don't hide like a tiny shrew,

Thus share that belovable review!

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