"Meaningful silence is always better than meaningless words." - Anonymous
The sloping knolls of snow and rock failed to delay the fox and bunny's trek back home.
After descending the peak of the Aurora-Alp and promptly boarding the ski-lift, the two mammals were soon well on their way back to the bottom of the mountain. The bunny nestled herself as close to the fox as possible, so as to conserve warmth. As the lift slowly lowered to the mountain's base, they talked idly while watching the Aurora Borealis fade from the ever-darkening sky.
Nick, being the considerate and observant fox that he was, noticed that Judy, despite her sweater and the added warmth of his personal body heat; Was shivering quite copiously.
"Everything alright there, fluff-ball?" The fox asked while rubbing his paw against her shoulder in an attempt to both warm her up and reassure her of his actions.
"I'm alright, just a little c-cold..." Judy assured her mate, who raised one of his eyebrows and donned a quizzical expression of apprehension.
"A little? Rabbit, you're shaking so hard I can feel it in the tip of my tail!" He claimed with piqued concern. "You're more than just a little cold... That much I can tell."
Judy sighed and shook her head a single time, causing her long ears to flop down and cover her face, almost as if she were embarrassed.
"Is it that obvious?" She asked, her eyes looking away from Nick's and to the side.
"Oh yeah..." The fox replied easily. "No need to hide it, carrots: It's not a sign of weakness, especially around me."
Nick's honeyed words seemed to soothe the bunny to some degree, as her ears slightly parted, and her gaze returned to Nick's.
"I'm sorry, Nick." Judy stifled a slight laugh. "You know me... Always trying to soldier through everything."
"Oh, I know: That's one of the reasons why I fell in love with you all those years ago. Never afraid to take one for the team, ya know? But don't let that get too comfy in here-"
Nick rapped his knuckles on Judy's forehead, causing her to giggle at his action.
"-Because that'll make you wind up hurting yourself one day, Whiskers." He concluded with a reassuring smile. "And I don't want that to happen."
"Oh, don't lecture me, fox!" Judy said while playfully punching his arm. "I am who I am!"
Nick chuckled and ruffled the fur on the top of Judy's head, causing her ears to shift around in the process.
"Anyone can be anything, huh? Don't remind me..." Nick stated as he roughly blew air out of his nostrils.
Eventually, the fox noticed that their ski-lift had nearly reached the very bottom.
"Alright fluff, do I have to pick you up and carry you, or are you good enough to walk on your own?"
"Nick, I'm fine! You don't have to cart me around like some kit... I can handle myself with the walking, but let's be sure to find a place to stay before you start freezing up too."
The fox and bunny quickly disembarked from their seats and landed on the wooden plat-form below. Nick feigned offense and promptly illustrated his thoughts.
"Freeze up? Me? I'm too hot to turn into a foxcicle, mind you!"
Judy snickered at his remark before pulling herself closer to him and nuzzling her cheek into his side.
"Whatever you say, slick." Judy said while rolling her eyes. "Let's just find someplace warm, shall we?"
Nick nodded his head in agreement as he wrapped an arm around the bunny and began walking forward.
"Gladly. I think Honey might be able to give us a place to stay for the night... Sound good?" The fox inquired.
"Whatever gets us out of this freezing cold, honestly." Judy affirmed.
Both mammals continued their journey into the frigid night, eventually re-entering the same town that they had left nearly an hour ago to watch the auroras. They kept an eye out for Honey's bar as they romped through the snow-covered ground, scanning the buildings around them for the distinctive tavern. They passed ice-caked buildings and frozen-over ponds, and walked for quite some time without seeing a single other mammal roaming the streets.
Soon enough, they rediscovered the honey-badger's tavern, and promptly entered through the fox-sized door. Walking inside, they both instantly felt a blast of reinvigorating warmth that caused both mammals fur to stand on end in bliss. They saw Honey standing by the bar-counter, cleaning a stack of dishes and mugs. Nick coughed a single time in an effort to earn her attention. Upon hearing the noise, the badger glanced over, a smile immediately stretching across her grizzled muzzle.
"Hey Nicky! Welcome back!" Her smile momentarily faltered. "Uh, what brings you back, anyways?"
"Honey, I'm sorry to drop this on ya, but we really need a place to stay for the night... Carrots here has the chills, and we're too far away to make the trip back to the station."
The badger seemed to briefly consider the prospect of providing shelter for the two smaller mammals. Honey raised a clawed paw to her chin, which she stroked delicately. Eventually, her coy smile resurfaced and she lightly pounded her fist on the counter-top of the bar.
"Why of course! What kinda friend would I be if I let you two freeze to death out there?" She asked herself.
Honey then leapt over the counter and took a peek outside through the blinds of a nearby window. She made a hmm sort of noise in the back of her throat.
"Ayup, looks like a blizzard's buildin' up tonight. Be glad you two made it here, since the nearest hotel is nearly a mile south from here."
"Blizzard?" Judy murmured, to which Honey grunted in confirmation.
"Uh-huh: They ain't too common 'round these parts come summer-time, but every once and again ol' mother nature'll slip one in and freeze our tails off here in Tundra-Town."
Nick eyed Honey as she turned around and faced him. He took note of the look of concern that shined in her eyes; All of which was directed at Judy, who was sniveling and shivering in Nick's grasp.
"And you're right, Nicky... Looks like your wife's caught some chills! Tell ya what, I'll fix you both up a complimentary cup of hot cocoa, just for you!"
Honey then maneuvered her way past the two of them before settling back behind the bar-counter once more. Nick and Judy followed suit, both seating themselves next to each-other at the bar. As he sat down, Nick couldn't help but notice that Ivar was missing from the spot that he had collapsed a few hours earlier. Scanning the area around him, the fox spotted the walrus sitting at a booth in the far corner of the tavern. Standing on top of the table in front of him was a trio of well-dressed rats, all of which looked nearly identical from Nick's perspective. The only visible difference that Nick could see between the three of them was that one was seemingly missing his tail.
Turning back towards the counter, Nick couldn't help but wonder what Ivar was doing with them, but soon shrugged the thought off as unimportant.
The bunny slowly sipped away at her hot-chocolate, eventually draining the cup of its contents. Honey led them to the space behind the bar, which contained a stair-case. Ascending it, they found themselves on the second-floor of the building, which was plain, but lined with plenty of furniture, including a badger-sized couch that the two mammals decided to take refuge in for sleep.
"You live up here?" Judy found herself asking softly, to which Honey nodded in confirmation.
"Got that right: The property's mine, and it's been that way since I told the landlord to take a hike... I'm gonna head back downstairs; I still got some customers to deal with."
The badger then descended back down the staircase, closing the trap-door and leaving the fox and bunny in near-total darkness.
Sleep soon found the two of them, and a blanket of pleasant warmth enveloped them as it did, finally quelling the bunny's shivers.
1:00 A.M
Chief Bogo hadn't planned on spending the night at head-quarters doing overtime.
In the end though, it didn't surprise him: The fall-out of the Savage case would be catastrophic if he didn't deal with it properly. Thus, the water-buffalo figured that it wouldn't hurt to spare a few extra hours of his time trimming the fat off of the case-files.
He wasn't alone in the building, but was far from being in the public-eye: His office was located near the very back of the complex, and the door was firmly closed shut and locked, indicating that he had no desire to be disturbed or bothered while he worked into the night. He even gave specific orders to Clawhauser and the other officers to not contact him unless there is an emergency.
That's why he was surprised when he heard a weak knock on his door.
"I thought I said no visitors!" He called out to the mammal outside, thinking that it was perhaps an officer who simply forgot his previous orders.
There was no verbal response from outside, with the only reply being another volley of knocks upon the door, each one harder than the last.
Bogo looked at his intercom, which had been sitting silent the entire time: Clawhauser usually contacted him before visitors came to meet him...
Mumbling curses to himself as he trudged over to the door and fumbled with the lock, he swung the door wide open and looked around: He didn't see anyone at first glance, but a flicker of movement near his feet caught his gaze, and the water-buffalo lowered his line of sight to the ground below him, where he locked eyes with a small, well-dressed rat.
The rodent was larger than the typical mouse, standing at about half the height of a rabbit - Rats were definitely a step-up from mice, in size, though he was still very small compared to Bogo. But that didn't stop him from carrying himself with an ordained air of confidence. He wore a small black overcoat draped around his shoulders like a sort of cape. Underneath his archaic court-suit was a blue button-up vest. His black slacks were smooth-pressed and clean. In his left paw, he held a ball-top cane, and a cravat neck-tie hung around his throat. Analyzing the rat's face, Bogo took note of his long and angular muzzle, which was lined with a prickly beard, his chin crowned with a curled goatee. The nest of hair that sprouted from the rat's head and lower-neck was thick and billowing, and his beady black eyes bore harshly into Bogo's hazel ones.
"Who are you, and what are you doing here, rat?" Bogo grumbled, hoping to intimidate his smaller guest into answering truthfully. The rodent simply huffed.
"I'm surprised your pitiful eyes can see through the thickness of your ignorance." The rat stated bluntly as he let himself into Bogo's office, walking straight past him.
The water-buffalo blinked a single time before slamming the door shut and turning around to face his new guest, who was smiling simply, his beady black eyes trained on Bogo.
"Yes. I am a rat. Glad that you noticed." He said flatly. "Now that we've gotten the formalities out of the way, what do you say we talk business, hm?"
"What are you doing here?" Bogo repeated, his arms crossed across his chest. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't call security on you for intrusion?"
"I was just about to answer that, chief, until you so rudely interrupted me."
"I won't ask again - Who are you?" Bogo asked, leaning down and looking the rat in the eye. He wasn't about to let this rat have his way so easily.
"I'll get to that, now please, can I finish?" The rat asked impatiently in a croaky, knife-like voice.
The water-buffalo sighed before lumbering over to his chair, of which he sat down and leaned back in. His visitor wasn't very big, or strong, but Bogo still kept his hoof on the tranquilizer gun strapped to his waist-line.
"I'll give you thirty seconds, starting now." He said, causing the rat to smile.
"Good. Now, to answer your first question, I'm here to converse with you over my client, Jack Savage. I believe that he is in your custody just downstairs, awaiting trial, no?"
"Is that what this is about?" The buffalo grumbled. "Jack Savage?"
It was definitely a first for a suspect's client to come directly to his office, especially in the middle of the night. This rat claimed to be seeking negotiations, which Bogo suspected was true, but there was an almost sickly aura of dissonance emanating from the rat. His smile was disturbing, and his eyes seemed far too intelligent for any mere rodent.
But still, Bogo figured that the sooner this talk was over with, the sooner he could get back to work.
He was also, admittedly, quite curious as to the reasoning behind this peculiar meeting, and so, he sighed before locking eyes with his diminutive guest.
"What about him?" Bogo mumbled in question, to which the rat smiled and nodded his head up and down, as though he were pleased with Bogo.
"Well you see, I'm a shareholder of his company, and it upset me very much when I heard news of his arrest. Knowing that Jack's failed attempt at a Ponzi-Scheme would affect my share in his finances, I came here to ensure that that doesn't happen. I know that you have power, my friend... Power that could please a lot of corporate investors, like myself. You're the face of the ZPD, the chief of police, and one of the city's most well-respected mammals... It would be a shame if all of that were to change."
The way that the rat worded that last sentence set off a bulb in the buffalo's head, staving off all of his weariness like retreating shadows.
"Wait... I know you! You were accused of pocketing off of that scandal on Gazelle! You're Ra-" Bogo started, but was cut off when his guest finished his own statement.
"Grygorri Ratsputin, in the flesh, good sir." The rat concluded, dipping his head slightly before lifting his gaze back to the buffalo, who was breathing heavily at this point.
"I don't have time to deal with this." He growled. "What is it that you want?"
"That's simple: I've come with a proposition for you."
"Cut to the chase." Bogo grunted irritably.
Ratsputin didn't look impressed. "Just be grateful that I bothered to make the trip, Thelonious."
Bogo faltered: The use of his true name caused him to hesitate and go blank in the mind. Few people referred to him by his true name, with even his closest of friends simply knowing him as Bogo, or preferably chief.
"I know things, chief: Lots of things, about lots of mammals, including you." Ratsputin muttered darkly, his shiny coal-black eyed staring right into Bogo's.
"Of course, I'll keep quiet about your little slip-ups, but only in return for some reimbursement on your part, chief." He concluded.
"You dirty rat!" Bogo hissed under his breath. "And what slip-ups?"
"Let's see," Ratsputin began numbering off with his fingers. "Abuse of power, extortion, malfeasance in office, official misconduct..." He chuckled to himself. "Need I go on?"
"Extortion? Abuse of power? What the hell are you talking about?" The water-buffalo thundered.
"Oh, you don't remember? Perhaps I could refresh your lackluster memory, yes? Tell me, Thelonious, do you remember the time that you threatened to discharge one officer Judith Laverne Hopps? I don't know about you, but firing her simply because she said something you didn't like sounds like an abuse of power to me. In specific, it violates the 42nd rule of section eighteen in city-hall's conduct codes... You know which one I'm talking about! Last I checked, city hall doesn't know about your little mishap, either: It'd be quite shameful for you if they somehow discovered this, wouldn't it? Discovered that you, the revered and respected chief of police, fired one of Zootopia's greatest and most iconic figureheads... Twice! Not only that, but you forced her to perform a 48-hour goose-chase that you knew was hopeless to begin with. That almost sounds like cruel and unusual punishment, to me!"
"You know nothing of what happened!"
"And you didn't trust a bunny to be able to solve genuinely dangerous assignments, and you didn't want to be responsible for what you saw as an inevitable televised tragedy over a dead one, didn't you? You tried to reach a compromise by first making her a meter maid, but she proved too insistent. So you purposely set her up to fail, so that she would get kicked off the force and thus, not killed, of course."
"I did what I had to do."
"So what you had to do was abuse your own power to protect your good name?" The rat asked with a smirk. "You couldn't just give the poor little rabbit a chance, could you?"
Bogo was silent to the count of ten, his muzzle quivering and twitching in frustration, and his veins pulsing through the skin on his forehead.
"That's what I thought. Now, as I was saying earlier, you have quite a track record when it comes to malfeasance in office. I believe that I'm one of the few who truly knows about these mishaps, so with that knowledge in my possession, I, in turn, have you in my possession."
The water-buffalo's face hardened. "This is blackmail!" He slammed his fists onto his desk, shaking the room.
"Oh no no no!" The rat shook his head from side to side. "This isn't blackmail... This is indemnity, good sir! We're working together, you see."
Ratsputin leapt up onto the chair and then scrambled onto Bogo's desk, soon recomposing his attire before positioning himself directly in front of the buffalo's twitching face.
"You-" He poked his tiny cane into Bogo's comparatively massive chest. "Have privileges that can be given... Dispensations that I want!"
The rat let that statement sink in for a few brief seconds before continuing his explanation.
"I-" He put a paw on his own chest. "Have information that you want... Or at least, information that you don't want to go public."
"You wouldn't DARE!" Bogo claimed, rising from his seat and towering over the rat below him. "I'm the chief of the ZPD! I'm no benefac-"
He trailed off when the rat simply waved his hand in the space in front of him, effectively quieting the irate water-buffalo.
"You certainly are, Thelonious; Nobody's disagreeing on your authority here in Zootopia. Just give me what I want, and I'll be on my way. Simple as that!"
Bogo sighed once again and sank back into his seat, never breaking eye-contact with the peculiar rat who stood across from him.
"And what is it that you want?" He said glumly, causing Ratsputin to smile wide; Showing off his minuscule, but pointed teeth.
"Easy. Just keep my client, Mr. Savage, out of jail." Ratsputin tilted his head to the side. "Or at least reduce his sentence like you did with Shahaz Pholmok. That works too!"
"That can't be done, I'd need city-hall and the council to-" Bogo was interrupted a third time when the rat banged the base of his cane into the desk surface.
"Oh, don't worry about that! Leave the council to me, my friend." The rat pointed his cane at Bogo and said darkly. "Just keep what I said in mind, and tell not a single soul."
The water-buffalo blinked a single-time, staring blankly at the rat with glazed eyes and twitching lids. He was about to speak out, but Ratsputin stopped him mid-breath.
"All you have to do is delay Mr. Savage's trial, and provide a one-sided testimony when the press comes asking for answers. Like I said, Bogo: You have power... Use it."
"You want me to lie." Bogo blurted out. "You want me to make Savage look like he wasn't in the wrong. Like it was that pangolin's fault, and that Jack was innocent."
Ratsputin spread his hands. "There you are! Finally catching on!" He delightfully claimed. "It certainly took you long enough to catch on!"
"You want me to be a rat." Bogo said slowly, his eyes hard on the rodent before him. "Like you."
"Exactly." Grygorri confirmed with a crooked grin. "There is a bit more to it then just that, but it's getting awfully late, and my children are no doubt wondering where I am right about now, so I must bid you farewell. But don't worry, I'm certain we'll meet again, and when we do, I'll be sure to give more details."
The rat leapt from the water-buffalo's desk and landed on the carpet floor, dusting himself off before pacing towards the door. He stopped and looked up at the handle before turning around to Bogo and clearing his throat. Bogo stood from his desk, lumbering over to the door, which he opened for the rat, who promptly stepped outside and walked away without looking back.
"Do remember, Thelonious," Ratsputin called out as he paced off. "Quietude, is the key. Embrace it, or you might find yourself harboring regrets."
Closing the door, Bogo sluggishly returned to his chair and sat down hard in it, a slight creaking noise spawning from beneath his weight.
He sighed and looked to the ceiling, wondering what the future would behold.
Hey everyone!
I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter of mine, and do be sure to leave a review telling me your opinions on what you liked! Also, as a point of fact, there's some pretty good fan-art of Ratsputin on my tumblr and DeviantArt pages, so if you'd like to check those out, feel free to! Thanks for reading, and I encourage you to keep it up!
Peace!
Also, I know that Ratsputin's threat seems somewhat complicated and empty, but trust me, I know what I'm doing! It's important! You'll be learning more about how Ratsputin learned all of this, his motivations, and much more in the coming chapters. Do please stay tuned, and keep on reading! :)